Editing Billy Collins (section)

==Early life and education==
Collins was born in [[Manhattan]] to William and Katherine Collins and grew up in '''[[Queens]]''' and [[White Plains, New York|White Plains]]. William was born to a large family from Ireland and Katherine was from Canada.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/482/the-art-of-poetry-no-83-billy-collins|title=Billy Collins, The Art of Poetry No. 83|last=Plimpton|first=George|date=2001-01-01|newspaper=Paris Review|issue=159|issn=0031-2037|access-date=2016-04-27}}</ref> His mother, Katherine Collins, was a nurse who stopped working to raise the couple's only child. Mrs. Collins had the ability to recite verses on almost any subject, which she often did, and cultivated in her young son the love of words, both written and spoken. Billy Collins' father was a worker on [[Wall Street]] who Collins attributes as an inspiration to his humor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5F-YjMxdeE|title=Who are you?|date=April 23, 2012 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref>

Collins attended [[Archbishop Stepinac High School]] and received a B.A. in English from the [[College of the Holy Cross]] in 1963. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in romantic poetry from the [[University of California, Riverside]]. His professors at Riverside included [[Victorian literature|Victorian]] scholar and poet [[Robert Peters (writer)|Robert Peters]].<ref>[http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/Eng_Lit_SF_Reading_Poetry07.pdf Interview with Billy Collins by Renee H Shea – College Board Teaching Series] accessed March 18, 2010</ref><ref>[http://thecoachellareview.com/poetry/interview_billycollins_fall09.html ''The Coachella Review'', Interview with Collins by Robert Potts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100649/http://thecoachellareview.com/poetry/interview_billycollins_fall09.html |date=March 4, 2016 }} accessed March 18, 2010</ref>  There he came under the influence of contemporary poets like [[Karl Shapiro]], [[Howard Nemerov]] and [[Reed Whittemore]],<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/text/brisk-walk-billy-collins-conversation|title=A Brisk Walk: Billy Collins in Conversation {{!}} Academy of American Poets|website=www.poets.org|access-date=2016-04-27}}</ref> and during his adolescence he was influenced by [[Beat Generation]] poets as well.<ref name="auto"/> In 1975 Collins founded ''The Mid-Atlantic Review'' with his friends Walter Blanco and Steve Bailey.<ref>[http://www.98bowery.com/firstyears/mike-shannon-and-billy-collins.php The Bowery and ''The Mid-Atlantic Review'' – archive material] accessed March 18, 2010</ref>