"One cannot, and must not, try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.
Former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir, believed that truth, no matter how atrocious, is the only way we can learn from the past and move on. She espoused that those who try to downplay the truth are harming and impairing their community. Billy Collins expresses the same uneasiness of the everyday censorship of the modern youth in his poem "The History Teacher." His method of humorous and comical wordplay intertwined with his laughable hyperboles and sarcastic tones only mask the true deep meaning of the poem and what he believes is a serious problem in our country today. Collins was born in New York City, NY, in 1941. He was raised in New York City until he attended Holy Cross liberal arts school where he graduated and earned his bachelor's degree. He then later attended the University of California-Riverside where he earned his masters and PhD (Poetry Foundation). He co-founded the Mid-Atlantic review in 1975 with Michael Shannon, but this was not the start of his literary fame. He first stepped into the spotlight when his fourth book he wrote got published "Questions about Angels." From here people began to fall in love with his quirky and witty poetry that not only got them to laugh but also to think. .
His book was only the start of his career though. In 1994 he was recognized as poet of the year by the magazine "Poetry." Three years later he produced his next collection of poems called "The Best Cigarette," in which the poems became bestsellers in the literary world. By 2001 when Collins was 60 years old he was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2001 and held the title until 2003. He wrote the "The History Teacher" during this time period in 2002 and it is just another example of his literary ingenuity. Collins, of course, is no stranger to the fact that the worldviews his poetry as a satirical way, and takes no shame in it.
