Writing

Express Yourself Through Poetry

Hone Your Writing Process & Voice

Teaches Reading and Writing Poetry

Billy Collins

Meet your new instructor: Billy Collins, one of the most popular and prolific poets of our time. In your first lesson, Billy introduces the many pleasures of poetry and illuminates how poetry connects you to the history of the human heart.

1. Introduction: The Pleasure Poetry Gives Us

Introduction: The Pleasure Poetry Gives Us

Billy teaches you how to use form to win the love of your readers, an audience of strangers.

2. Working With Form

Working With Form

In poetry, you can do anything and go anywhere. Learn how to embrace the freedom of poetry to embark on explorations of subject, progression, and the balance of clarity and mystery.

3. Discovering the Subject

Discovering the Subject

Billy teaches practical exercises that will galvanize your writing process.

4. Writing the Poem

Writing the Poem

Billy shares his personal notebooks and gives rare insight into the process of writing his poem “Grand Central.”

5. Writing Process

Writing Process

A poem is not a cookbook. Learn how embracing nuance and ambiguity can be your greatest ally when reading poetry.

6. Reading: Connecting With Poetry

Reading: Connecting With Poetry

Billy invites acclaimed poet and friend Marie Howe to read and discuss Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” Learn how Dickinson’s creative use of capitalization builds an entire world out of a state of mind.

7. Discussion With Marie Howe: Emily Dickinson

Discussion With Marie Howe: Emily Dickinson

Billy and Marie discuss how the speaker in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 73” uses metaphor to bid a final farewell to his beloved.

8. Discussion With Marie Howe: William Shakespeare

Discussion With Marie Howe: William Shakespeare

Learn the tools beyond rhyme and meter that Billy utilizes to achieve a musical, toe-tapping kind of joy in his poetry.

9. Sound Pleasures

Sound Pleasures

Billy is a self-proclaimed “terrible rhymer.” Learn one of his techniques for capturing a reader’s attention without relying on rhymed or metered poetry.

10. Playing a Visible Game

Playing a Visible Game

Billy teaches you how to harness the imaginative flexibility of a poem, turning it in new directions to be playful with your reader.

11. Turning a Poem

Turning a Poem

Learn how what began as a letter to her brother became one of Marie’s most acclaimed poems with “What the Living Do.”

12. Discussion With Marie Howe: "What the Living Do"

Discussion With Marie Howe: "What the Living Do"

Billy and Marie unpack how Billy’s poem “The Death of the Hat” moves from being a poem about a hat to an elegy for his father.

13. Discussion With Marie Howe: "The Death of the Hat"

Discussion With Marie Howe: "The Death of the Hat"

Your voice lies on the shelves of the library and the bookstore. Learn how reading the work of other poets will help develop your unique persona.

14. Finding Your Voice: Influences

Finding Your Voice: Influences

Learn how to develop a distinctive persona for yourself, solving most issues around writing poetry.

15. Finding Your Voice: Creating a Persona

Finding Your Voice: Creating a Persona

Billy shares how humor is an essential part of his persona and teaches you how to use humor in your poetry for serious reasons.

16. Humor as a Serious Strategy

Humor as a Serious Strategy

Learn how spacing and word repetition create tone in student Sarah Iqbal’s poem “My (Muslim) Father Seizes the Thing on My Nightstand.”

17. Student Discussion: "My (Muslim) Father Seizes the Thing on My Nightstand" by Sarah Iqbal

Student Discussion: "My (Muslim) Father Seizes the Thing on My Nightstand" by Sarah Iqbal

Billy and student Paul Epland discuss point of view in “The Crash.” Learn how Billy’s suggestion to add three words helps with the turn in the poem.

18. Student Discussion: "The Crash" by Paul Epland

Student Discussion: "The Crash" by Paul Epland

According to Marie, “so much of writing is getting beyond the will.” Billy and Marie share practical exercises they use to get out of their heads and into their writing.

19. Discussion With Marie Howe: Writing Poetry

Discussion With Marie Howe: Writing Poetry

Billy invites you to join the club of poets who have been writing since the beginning of time.

20. A Poet's Journey

A Poet's Journey

Billy Collins Teaches Reading and Writing Poetry

variant_1

Enjoy 7 days free

The promo may be over, but your opportunity isn't. Dive into the full experience, worry-free, with our 7-day money-back guarantee.

The offer has ended

Amount charged now

Your 7-day free trial starts today

Pre-enroll now to save 15% on the Breakthrough Innovation Strategy course.

Save 15% on this course when you pre-enroll by October 22, 2025.

Turn bold ideas to business impact—pre-enroll by October 22, 2025 and save 15%.

Pre-enroll now to save 15% on our Leadership and Decision-Making Under Pressure course.

Save 15% on this course when you pre-enroll by October 1, 2025.

Lead and make decisions under pressure—pre-enroll by October 1, 2025 and save 15%.

From TIME ©2022 TIME USA LLC. All rights reserved. Used under license.

Times

Wirecutter

Reviewed - USA Today

Finding Your Voice

Rhyme and Meter

Shaping the Form

Scripting Your Own Success

Mindy Kaling

Achieve More With GenAI

Ethan Mollick

Allie K. Miller

Don Allen III

Manuel Sainsily

Teaches Creative Writing

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing

Teaches Writing Thrillers

Dan Brown

Dan Brown Teaches Writing Thrillers

Teaches Fiction, Memory, and Imagination

Amy Tan

Amy Tan Teaches Fiction, Memory, and Imagination

Teaches the Art of the Short Story

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates Teaches the Art of the Short Story

Tell a Great Story

Michael Lewis

Teaches Storytelling and Humor

David Sedaris

David Sedaris Teaches Storytelling and Humor

Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing

David Baldacci

David Baldacci Teaches Mystery and Thriller Writing

Teaches Writing

James Patterson

James Patterson Teaches Writing

Teaches Fiction and Storytelling

Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley Teaches Fiction and Storytelling

Teaches Writing and Performing Poetry

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman Teaches Writing and Performing Poetry

Teaches Writing for Social Change

Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay Teaches Writing for Social Change

Teaches Investigative Journalism

Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward Teaches Investigative Journalism

Teaches Storytelling and Writing

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie Teaches Storytelling and Writing

Teaches Poetic Thinking

Joy Harjo

Joy Harjo Teaches Poetic Thinking

Judy Blume

Judy Blume Teaches Writing

Teaches Dramatic Writing

David Mamet

David Mamet Teaches Dramatic Writing

Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing

Teaches Writing for Young Audiences

R.L. Stine

R.L. Stine Teaches Writing for Young Audiences

Menu

Skills You'll Learn