№ 2008.005 — Colorado College — Commencement address

Billy Collins

Field: letters

Transcript

Poet Billy Collins delivers a humorous, self-deprecating commencement address that resists conventional advice and clichés about hard work and the future. He explores how we relate to time—dividing perspectives into the pragmatic and the poetic—and argues that the present can only be accessed by slowing down, as poetry teaches. He champions the theme of carpe diem and gratitude for being alive, closing with his poem 'The Lanyard' about filial gratitude.

Key moments

01 Mocks commencement clichés and his own unlikely qualifications as a speaker
02 Argues the future never arrives and contrasts pragmatic versus poetic views of time
03 Presents a 'Top Ten' list of thoughts on time and mortality
04 Urges seizing the present and gratitude, reciting his poem 'The Lanyard'

Transcript

The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.

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Provenance

Imported from NPR commencement archive; cross-referenced with Open Commencement DB

NPR archive last updated in 2015; destination availability has not been exhaustively rechecked | Open Commencement DB transcript; not independently verified against the original recording