The Art Of Drowning (Pitt Poetry Series) [Hardcover]

Billy Collins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A wonderful, thoughtful, sly, and moving collection." 
--San Francisco Chronicle

"A brilliant collection."
--Washington Post

From the Publisher

Over the past decade, Billy Collins has emerged as the most beloved American poet since Robert Frost, garnering critical acclaim and broad popular appeal. To celebrate his years as U.S. Poet Laureate, The University of Pittsburgh Press is pleased to announce these special limited editions, in hardcover, of the books that helped establish and secure his reputation during the 1990s. (See also Picnic, Lightning, ISBN 0822940663; and Questions About Angels, ISBN 0822942119.)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press; 1 edition (June 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822938936
• ISBN-13: 978-0822938934
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Billy Collins' writing is fragilely beautiful, October 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Art Of Drowning (Pitt Poetry Series) (Paperback)

I first came across "lines lost among trees" in the Best of American Poetry 97. Next was The Art of Drowning. I feel Collins' presence in each of his poems; he writes himself into every one of them. He relates to his readers in a casual, informal way, not at all stuffy like the great predecessors of English poetry. He makes poems out of even the most hum-drum things of our daily lives, and crafts them in so delicate a way that they become fresh and alive. Collins himself is a very lively and affable person; I've had the opportunity to meet him. Picnic, Lightning however, was a bit of a disappointment; it couldn't top the ingenuity of The Art of Drowning. As for his earlier works...if only I could get my hands on them! They are all out-of-print. Billy Collins is not like other poets. He puts on no airs; he's the real thing.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changing the purpose of Poetry, May 3, 2000

By 

Gianmarco Manzione (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Art Of Drowning (Pitt Poetry Series) (Paperback)

Billy Collins's original voice is delightfully accessible, often blending comedy and solemnity in one poem, and always with something new to say. The playful tone of these poems can be misleading; whether he is writing about eating a good plate of Osso Bucco or his favorite museum rooms, there is always a pathos lingering in the silence after the last line. Most relieving is the absence of pretentiousness or haughty language. This is simply, as Robert Bly writes in his introduction to the best American poems of 1999, Collins's skillful ability to "bring the soul up close to the thing" in every poem. Books such as "The Art of Drowning" threaten to change the face and purpose of poetry in the 21st century. Let's hope there is plenty more to come from Billy Collins.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poetry without Pain, January 9, 2001

By 

Russ Mayes (Glen Allen, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Art Of Drowning (Pitt Poetry Series) (Paperback)

If you are asking yourself "how can drowning be an art?" you have sensed some of the wry humor that he includes in his poetry. I've only read a handful of poems, but I can already sense the way he puts a plain style to an often comic end. He hasn't been "laugh out loud" funny yet, but he still offers more humor than most contemporary poets. This isn't by chance, either. He knows it:

I am swaying now in the hour after dinner,/ a citizen tilted back on his chair, / a creature with a full stomach-- / something you don't hear much about in poetry, / the sanctuary of hunger and deprivation. / You know: the driving rain, the boots by the door, / small birds searching for berries in winter. ("Osso Buco")

I think that is a wonderful description of much contemporary poetry which many people feel must stem from pain rather than pleasure.

Collins is also willing to be... well... quirky. Here is his description of the types of paintings he likes, from a poem called "Metropolis:"

I like the calm rustic ones: a surface of lake, / the low bough of an oak like a long arm, / a blue smudge of distant hills, / anything with cows, especially if they are standing / in a stream, their large, vacuous faces / staring into the warm nineteenth-century afternoon. / And if one has lowered her head to drink / and the painter has indicated with flecks of white / the water pouring down from the animal's mouth, / then the day, I feel, has achieved a modest crest. //

. . . . . . . . .

You can have that bronze sculpture by the elevators: / "Revolution Holding the Head of Error / and Standing Over the Cadaver of Monarchy." / My place is here, leaning forward, wandering / through the microscopic eyelash details of / "Still Life with Herring, Wine and Cheese," / "Still Life with Tobacco, Grapes and a Pocket Watch," / "Still Life with Porcelain Vase, Silver Tray, and Glasses,"

The line that begins "anything with cows" is as close as I've come to laughing out loud. I don't know why, but something about the honest incongruity I find funny. And I love the parodic title of the sculpture (I assume it's a parody) as a counterpoint to the simplicity of the still life pictures. I think it is clear that his poetry is more in the vein of the still life than the epic or allegorical, and I find his voice refreshing.

The best poem in the collection is "The Invention of the Saxophone" which brings together all of the concerns he develops in this wonderful collection.