Yesterday I informed you of a few new videos at World Class Poetry. Today I’d like to announce the addition of four new Billy Collins videos.

If you’re a fan of former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins then you’ll like these videos. I’ve seen hundreds of poetry videos online and none come close to the quality and originality of Billy Collins’ animated poetry videos. And I’m not a huge fan of Billy Collins poetry.

I like his videos because they are high quality productions that are more than just a man standing at a microphone reading from a book. There may be a place for that, but in my mind a quality poetry video must have some element of visual aesthetic that adds to the poetic experience beyond the written and oral delivery of the poem. Billy Collins provides that in just about all of his videos, but particularly in his animated poetry videos.

The four poems represented by Billy Collins at World Class Poetry are:

• Forgetfulness
• The Dead
• The Country
• Sweet Talk

I hope you’ll take some time to enjoy these videos from former poet laureate Billy Collins.