Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time

313,706 views ・ 2012-03-23

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:15
I'm here to give you
0
15260
2000
00:17
your recommended dietary allowance
1
17260
2000
00:19
of poetry.
2
19260
2000
00:21
And the way I'm going to do that
3
21260
2000
00:23
is present to you
4
23260
2000
00:25
five animations
5
25260
2000
00:27
of five of my poems.
6
27260
2000
00:29
And let me just tell you a little bit of how that came about.
7
29260
2000
00:31
Because the mixing of those two media
8
31260
2000
00:33
is a sort of unnatural or unnecessary act.
9
33260
3000
00:36
But when I was United States Poet Laureate --
10
36260
4000
00:40
and I love saying that.
11
40260
2000
00:42
(Laughter)
12
42260
2000
00:44
It's a great way to start sentences.
13
44260
3000
00:47
When I was him back then,
14
47260
3000
00:50
I was approached by J. Walter Thompson, the ad company,
15
50260
3000
00:53
and they were hired
16
53260
2000
00:55
sort of by the Sundance Channel.
17
55260
2000
00:57
And the idea was to have me record some of my poems
18
57260
2000
00:59
and then they would find animators
19
59260
2000
01:01
to animate them.
20
61260
2000
01:03
And I was initially resistant,
21
63260
2000
01:05
because I always think
22
65260
2000
01:07
poetry can stand alone by itself.
23
67260
2000
01:09
Attempts to put my poems to music
24
69260
3000
01:12
have had disastrous results,
25
72260
2000
01:14
in all cases.
26
74260
3000
01:17
And the poem, if it's written with the ear,
27
77260
3000
01:20
already has been set to its own verbal music
28
80260
3000
01:23
as it was composed.
29
83260
2000
01:25
And surely, if you're reading a poem
30
85260
2000
01:27
that mentions a cow,
31
87260
2000
01:29
you don't need on the facing page
32
89260
2000
01:31
a drawing of a cow.
33
91260
2000
01:33
I mean, let's let the reader do a little work.
34
93260
3000
01:36
But I relented because it seemed like an interesting possibility,
35
96260
3000
01:39
and also I'm like a total cartoon junkie
36
99260
3000
01:42
since childhood.
37
102260
3000
01:45
I think more influential
38
105260
2000
01:47
than Emily Dickinson or Coleridge or Wordsworth
39
107260
3000
01:50
on my imagination
40
110260
2000
01:52
were Warner Brothers, Merrie Melodies
41
112260
2000
01:54
and Loony Tunes cartoons.
42
114260
3000
01:57
Bugs Bunny is my muse.
43
117260
3000
02:01
And this way poetry could find its way onto television of all places.
44
121260
4000
02:05
And I'm pretty much all for poetry in public places --
45
125260
3000
02:08
poetry on buses, poetry on subways,
46
128260
3000
02:11
on billboards, on cereal boxes.
47
131260
4000
02:15
When I was Poet Laureate, there I go again --
48
135260
4000
02:19
I can't help it, it's true --
49
139260
3000
02:22
(Laughter)
50
142260
3000
02:25
I created a poetry channel on Delta Airlines
51
145260
3000
02:28
that lasted for a couple of years.
52
148260
2000
02:30
So you could tune into poetry as you were flying.
53
150260
3000
02:33
And my sense is,
54
153260
2000
02:35
it's a good thing to get poetry off the shelves
55
155260
3000
02:38
and more into public life.
56
158260
2000
02:40
Start a meeting with a poem. That would be an idea you might take with you.
57
160260
3000
02:43
When you get a poem on a billboard or on the radio
58
163260
3000
02:46
or on a cereal box or whatever,
59
166260
2000
02:48
it happens to you so suddenly
60
168260
2000
02:50
that you don't have time
61
170260
2000
02:52
to deploy your anti-poetry deflector shields
62
172260
4000
02:56
that were installed in high school.
63
176260
3000
03:01
So let us start with the first one.
64
181260
3000
03:04
It's a little poem called "Budapest,"
65
184260
3000
03:07
and in it I reveal,
66
187260
2000
03:09
or pretend to reveal,
67
189260
2000
03:11
the secrets of the creative process.
68
191260
4000
03:16
(Video) Narration: "Budapest."
69
196260
2000
03:18
My pen moves along the page
70
198260
3000
03:21
like the snout of a strange animal
71
201260
3000
03:24
shaped like a human arm
72
204260
2000
03:26
and dressed in the sleeve
73
206260
2000
03:28
of a loose green sweater.
74
208260
2000
03:30
I watch it sniffing the paper ceaselessly,
75
210260
3000
03:33
intent as any forager
76
213260
3000
03:36
that has nothing on its mind
77
216260
2000
03:38
but the grubs and insects
78
218260
3000
03:41
that will allow it to live another day.
79
221260
3000
03:44
It wants only to be here tomorrow,
80
224260
3000
03:47
dressed perhaps
81
227260
2000
03:49
in the sleeve of a plaid shirt,
82
229260
2000
03:51
nose pressed against the page,
83
231260
2000
03:53
writing a few more dutiful lines
84
233260
4000
03:57
while I gaze out the window
85
237260
2000
03:59
and imagine Budapest
86
239260
2000
04:01
or some other city
87
241260
2000
04:03
where I have never been.
88
243260
3000
04:07
BC: So that makes it seem a little easier.
89
247260
3000
04:10
(Applause)
90
250260
2000
04:12
Writing is not actually as easy as that for me.
91
252260
4000
04:16
But I like to pretend that it comes with ease.
92
256260
5000
04:21
One of my students came up after class, an introductory class,
93
261260
3000
04:24
and she said, "You know, poetry is harder than writing,"
94
264260
5000
04:29
which I found both erroneous and profound.
95
269260
3000
04:32
(Laughter)
96
272260
3000
04:35
So I like to at least pretend it just flows out.
97
275260
3000
04:38
A friend of mine has a slogan; he's another poet.
98
278260
3000
04:41
He says that, "If at first you don't succeed,
99
281260
3000
04:44
hide all evidence you ever tried."
100
284260
3000
04:47
(Laughter)
101
287260
2000
04:49
The next poem is also rather short.
102
289260
3000
04:52
Poetry just says a few things in different ways.
103
292260
3000
04:55
And I think you could boil this poem down to saying,
104
295260
3000
04:58
"Some days you eat the bear, other days the bear eats you."
105
298260
3000
05:01
And it uses the imagery
106
301260
2000
05:03
of dollhouse furniture.
107
303260
2000
05:05
(Video) Narration: "Some Days."
108
305260
3000
05:09
Some days
109
309260
2000
05:11
I put the people in their places at the table,
110
311260
3000
05:14
bend their legs at the knees,
111
314260
2000
05:16
if they come with that feature,
112
316260
2000
05:18
and fix them into the tiny wooden chairs.
113
318260
4000
05:22
All afternoon they face one another,
114
322260
3000
05:25
the man in the brown suit,
115
325260
2000
05:27
the woman in the blue dress --
116
327260
2000
05:29
perfectly motionless, perfectly behaved.
117
329260
4000
05:33
But other days I am the one
118
333260
2000
05:35
who is lifted up by the ribs
119
335260
2000
05:37
then lowered into the dining room of a dollhouse
120
337260
4000
05:41
to sit with the others at the long table.
121
341260
3000
05:44
Very funny.
122
344260
2000
05:46
But how would you like it
123
346260
2000
05:48
if you never knew from one day to the next
124
348260
3000
05:51
if you were going to spend it
125
351260
2000
05:53
striding around like a vivid god,
126
353260
3000
05:56
your shoulders in the clouds,
127
356260
3000
05:59
or sitting down there
128
359260
2000
06:01
amidst the wallpaper
129
361260
2000
06:03
staring straight ahead
130
363260
2000
06:05
with your little plastic face?
131
365260
4000
06:11
(Applause)
132
371260
5000
06:16
BC: There's a horror movie in there somewhere.
133
376260
3000
06:19
The next poem is called forgetfulness,
134
379260
2000
06:21
and it's really just a kind of poetic essay
135
381260
2000
06:23
on the subject of mental slippage.
136
383260
4000
06:27
And the poem begins
137
387260
2000
06:29
with a certain species of forgetfulness
138
389260
3000
06:32
that someone called
139
392260
2000
06:34
literary amnesia,
140
394260
2000
06:36
in other words, forgetting the things that you have read.
141
396260
4000
06:43
(Video) Narration: "Forgetfulness."
142
403260
2000
06:45
The name of the author is the first to go,
143
405260
3000
06:48
followed obediently
144
408260
2000
06:50
by the title, the plot,
145
410260
2000
06:52
the heartbreaking conclusion,
146
412260
2000
06:54
the entire novel,
147
414260
2000
06:56
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
148
416260
3000
06:59
never even heard of.
149
419260
2000
07:01
It is as if, one by one,
150
421260
2000
07:03
the memories you used to harbor
151
423260
3000
07:06
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain
152
426260
4000
07:10
to a little fishing village
153
430260
2000
07:12
where there are no phones.
154
432260
2000
07:14
Long ago,
155
434260
2000
07:16
you kissed the names of the nine muses good-bye
156
436260
3000
07:19
and you watched the quadratic equation
157
439260
2000
07:21
pack its bag.
158
441260
2000
07:23
And even now,
159
443260
2000
07:25
as you memorize the order of the planets,
160
445260
2000
07:27
something else is slipping away,
161
447260
2000
07:29
a state flower perhaps,
162
449260
2000
07:31
the address of an uncle,
163
451260
2000
07:33
the capital of Paraguay.
164
453260
2000
07:35
Whatever it is
165
455260
2000
07:37
you are struggling to remember,
166
457260
2000
07:39
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
167
459260
3000
07:42
not even lurking
168
462260
2000
07:44
in some obscure corner
169
464260
2000
07:46
of your spleen.
170
466260
2000
07:48
It has floated away
171
468260
2000
07:50
down a dark mythological river
172
470260
3000
07:53
whose name begins with an L
173
473260
3000
07:56
as far as you can recall,
174
476260
2000
07:58
well on your own way to oblivion
175
478260
3000
08:01
where you will join those
176
481260
2000
08:03
who have forgotten even how to swim
177
483260
2000
08:05
and how to ride a bicycle.
178
485260
3000
08:08
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
179
488260
3000
08:11
to look up the date of a famous battle
180
491260
3000
08:14
in a book on war.
181
494260
2000
08:16
No wonder the Moon in the window
182
496260
2000
08:18
seems to have drifted out of a love poem
183
498260
3000
08:21
that you used to know by heart.
184
501260
4000
08:27
(Applause)
185
507260
8000
08:35
BC: The next poem is called "The Country"
186
515260
2000
08:37
and it's based on,
187
517260
2000
08:39
when I was in college
188
519260
2000
08:41
I met a classmate who remains to be a friend of mine.
189
521260
3000
08:44
He lived, and still does, in rural Vermont.
190
524260
2000
08:46
I lived in New York City.
191
526260
2000
08:48
And we would visit each other.
192
528260
2000
08:50
And when I would go up to the country,
193
530260
2000
08:52
he would teach me things like deer hunting,
194
532260
3000
08:55
which meant getting lost with a gun basically --
195
535260
3000
08:58
(Laughter)
196
538260
2000
09:00
and trout fishing and stuff like that.
197
540260
2000
09:02
And then he'd come down to New York City
198
542260
2000
09:04
and I'd teach him what I knew,
199
544260
2000
09:06
which was largely smoking and drinking.
200
546260
2000
09:08
(Laughter)
201
548260
2000
09:10
And in that way we traded lore with each other.
202
550260
3000
09:13
The poem that's coming up
203
553260
2000
09:15
is based on him trying to tell me a little something
204
555260
3000
09:18
about a domestic point of etiquette
205
558260
2000
09:20
in country living
206
560260
2000
09:22
that I had a very hard time, at first, processing.
207
562260
2000
09:24
It's called "The Country."
208
564260
2000
09:26
(Video) Narration: "The Country."
209
566260
3000
09:29
I wondered about you
210
569260
2000
09:31
when you told me never to leave
211
571260
2000
09:33
a box of wooden strike-anywhere matches
212
573260
3000
09:36
just lying around the house,
213
576260
3000
09:39
because the mice might get into them
214
579260
2000
09:41
and start a fire.
215
581260
2000
09:43
But your face was absolutely straight
216
583260
3000
09:46
when you twisted the lid down
217
586260
2000
09:48
on the round tin
218
588260
2000
09:50
where the matches, you said, are always stowed.
219
590260
3000
09:53
Who could sleep that night?
220
593260
2000
09:55
Who could whisk away the thought
221
595260
2000
09:57
of the one unlikely mouse
222
597260
3000
10:00
padding along a cold water pipe
223
600260
3000
10:03
behind the floral wallpaper,
224
603260
2000
10:05
gripping a single wooden match
225
605260
2000
10:07
between the needles of his teeth?
226
607260
3000
10:10
Who could not see him rounding a corner,
227
610260
3000
10:13
the blue tip scratching against rough-hewn beam,
228
613260
3000
10:16
the sudden flare
229
616260
2000
10:18
and the creature, for one bright, shining moment,
230
618260
4000
10:22
suddenly thrust ahead of his time --
231
622260
2000
10:24
now a fire-starter,
232
624260
2000
10:26
now a torch-bearer
233
626260
2000
10:28
in a forgotten ritual,
234
628260
2000
10:30
little brown druid
235
630260
2000
10:32
illuminating some ancient night?
236
632260
2000
10:34
And who could fail to notice,
237
634260
3000
10:37
lit up in the blazing insulation,
238
637260
2000
10:39
the tiny looks of wonderment
239
639260
2000
10:41
on the faces of his fellow mice --
240
641260
3000
10:44
one-time inhabitants
241
644260
2000
10:46
of what once was your house in the country?
242
646260
4000
10:50
(Applause)
243
650260
3000
10:53
BC: Thank you.
244
653260
2000
10:55
(Applause)
245
655260
2000
10:57
Thank you. And the last poem is called "The Dead."
246
657260
3000
11:00
I wrote this after a friend's funeral,
247
660260
2000
11:02
but not so much about the friend as something the eulogist kept saying,
248
662260
2000
11:04
as all eulogists tend to do,
249
664260
2000
11:06
which is how happy the deceased would be
250
666260
3000
11:09
to look down and see all of us assembled.
251
669260
2000
11:11
And that to me was a bad start to the afterlife,
252
671260
3000
11:14
having to witness your own funeral and feel gratified.
253
674260
3000
11:17
So the little poem is called "The Dead."
254
677260
4000
11:21
(Video) Narration: "The Dead."
255
681260
2000
11:23
The dead are always looking down on us,
256
683260
3000
11:26
they say.
257
686260
2000
11:28
While we are putting on our shoes or making a sandwich,
258
688260
3000
11:31
they are looking down
259
691260
2000
11:33
through the glass-bottom boats of heaven
260
693260
3000
11:36
as they row themselves slowly
261
696260
2000
11:38
through eternity.
262
698260
2000
11:40
They watch the tops of our heads
263
700260
2000
11:42
moving below on Earth.
264
702260
2000
11:44
And when we lie down
265
704260
2000
11:46
in a field or on a couch,
266
706260
2000
11:48
drugged perhaps
267
708260
2000
11:50
by the hum of a warm afternoon,
268
710260
3000
11:53
they think we are looking back at them,
269
713260
3000
11:56
which makes them lift their oars
270
716260
2000
11:58
and fall silent
271
718260
2000
12:00
and wait like parents
272
720260
3000
12:03
for us to close our eyes.
273
723260
3000
12:08
(Applause)
274
728260
7000
12:15
BC: I'm not sure if other poems will be animated.
275
735260
2000
12:17
It took a long time --
276
737260
2000
12:19
I mean, it's rather uncommon to have this marriage --
277
739260
3000
12:22
a long time to put those two together.
278
742260
2000
12:24
But then again, it took us a long time
279
744260
2000
12:26
to put the wheel and the suitcase together.
280
746260
2000
12:28
(Laughter)
281
748260
3000
12:31
I mean, we had the wheel for some time.
282
751260
3000
12:34
And schlepping is an ancient and honorable art.
283
754260
3000
12:37
(Laughter)
284
757260
3000
12:40
I just have time
285
760260
2000
12:42
to read a more recent poem to you.
286
762260
3000
12:45
If it has a subject,
287
765260
3000
12:48
the subject is adolescence.
288
768260
2000
12:50
And it's addressed to a certain person.
289
770260
2000
12:52
It's called "To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl."
290
772260
6000
12:58
"Do you realize that if you had started building the Parthenon
291
778260
3000
13:01
on the day you were born,
292
781260
2000
13:03
you would be all done in only one more year?
293
783260
3000
13:06
Of course, you couldn't have done that all alone.
294
786260
2000
13:08
So never mind;
295
788260
2000
13:10
you're fine just being yourself.
296
790260
2000
13:12
You're loved for just being you.
297
792260
3000
13:15
But did you know that at your age
298
795260
2000
13:17
Judy Garland was pulling down 150,000 dollars a picture,
299
797260
5000
13:22
Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory
300
802260
4000
13:26
and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room --
301
806260
3000
13:29
no wait, I mean he had invented the calculator?
302
809260
4000
13:33
Of course, there will be time for all that
303
813260
2000
13:35
later in your life,
304
815260
2000
13:37
after you come out of your room
305
817260
2000
13:39
and begin to blossom,
306
819260
2000
13:41
or at least pick up all your socks.
307
821260
4000
13:45
For some reason I keep remembering
308
825260
2000
13:47
that Lady Jane Grey was queen of England
309
827260
2000
13:49
when she was only 15.
310
829260
3000
13:52
But then she was beheaded, so never mind her as a role model.
311
832260
3000
13:55
(Laughter)
312
835260
3000
13:58
A few centuries later,
313
838260
2000
14:00
when he was your age,
314
840260
2000
14:02
Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family,
315
842260
4000
14:06
but that did not keep him
316
846260
2000
14:08
from composing two symphonies, four operas
317
848260
3000
14:11
and two complete masses as a youngster.
318
851260
3000
14:14
(Laughter)
319
854260
2000
14:16
But of course, that was in Austria
320
856260
2000
14:18
at the height of Romantic lyricism,
321
858260
3000
14:21
not here in the suburbs of Cleveland.
322
861260
2000
14:23
(Laughter)
323
863260
2000
14:25
Frankly, who cares
324
865260
2000
14:27
if Annie Oakley was a crack shot at 15
325
867260
3000
14:30
or if Maria Callas debuted as Tosca at 17?
326
870260
4000
14:34
We think you're special just being you --
327
874260
3000
14:37
playing with your food and staring into space.
328
877260
3000
14:40
(Laughter)
329
880260
3000
14:43
By the way,
330
883260
2000
14:45
I lied about Schubert doing the dishes,
331
885260
3000
14:48
but that doesn't mean he never helped out around the house."
332
888260
3000
14:51
(Laughter)
333
891260
2000
14:53
(Applause)
334
893260
2000
14:55
Thank you. Thank you.
335
895260
3000
14:58
(Applause)
336
898260
5000
15:03
Thanks.
337
903260
2000
15:05
(Applause)
338
905260
2000
About this website

This site will introduce you to YouTube videos that are useful for learning English. You will see English lessons taught by top-notch teachers from around the world. Double-click on the English subtitles displayed on each video page to play the video from there. The subtitles scroll in sync with the video playback. If you have any comments or requests, please contact us using this contact form.

https://forms.gle/WvT1wiN1qDtmnspy7