The Apple That Astonished Paris - Softcover

Collins, Billy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1904634338 ISBN 13: 9781904634331

Publisher: Enitharmon Press, 2006

Synopsis

In 1988 the University of Arkansas Press published Billy Collins's THE APPLE THAT ASTONISHED PARIS, his "first real book of poems," as he describes it in a new, delightful preface written expessly for this new printing to help celebrate both the Press's twenty-fifth anniversary and this book, one of the Press's all-time best sellers. In his usual witty and dry style, Collins writes, "I gathered together what I considered my best poems and threw them in the mail." After "what seemed like a very long time" Press director Miller Williams, a poet as well, returned the poems to him in the "familiar self-addressed, stamped envelope." He told Collins that there was good work here but that there was work to be done before he'd have a real collection he and the Press could be proud of: "Williams's words were more encouraging than I had ever gotten before and more than enough to inspire me to begin taking my writing more seriously than I had before."

This collection includes some of Collins's most anthologized poems, including "Introduction to Poetry," "Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House," and "Advice to Writers." Its success over the years is testament to Collin's talent as one of our best poets, and as he writes in the preface, "the new edition . . . is a credit to the sustained vibrancy of the University of Arkansas Press and, I suspect, to the abiding spirit of its former director, my first editorial father."

About this title

From the Publisher:

This book features a new preface by the author, recalling how his first collection was born.

From the Inside Flap:

"Using simple, understandable language, Collins captures ordinary life--its pleasure, its discontents, its moments of sadness and joy." --USA TODAY

"Billy Collins writes lovely poems . . . Limpid, gently and consistently startling, more serious than they seem, they describe worlds that are and were and some others as well." --John Updike

About this edition

• Publisher: Enitharmon Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1904634338
• ISBN 13: 9781904634331
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64