Philip Levine (January 10, 1928 – February 14, 2015) was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreac ...

from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed

Poet Laureate of the United States The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

for 2011–2012.

Biography

Philip Levine grew up in industrial

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, the second of three sons and the first of

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

s of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrant parents. His father, Harry Levine, owned a used auto parts business, his mother, Esther Priscol (Pryszkulnik) Levine, was a bookseller. When Levine was five years old, his father died. While growing up, he faced the

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

embodied by

Father Coughlin Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based in the United States near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the ...

, the pro-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

radio priest. In high school, a teacher told him, “You write like an angel. Why don't you think about becoming a writer?“ At this point, he was already working at night in auto factories, though just 14 years old.

Detroit Central High School Central High School, previously Central Collegiate Academy and originally named Central High School, is the oldest public secondary school in Detroit, Michigan; it is part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. The school's student bod ...

graduated him in 1946, and he went to college at Wayne University (now

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

) in Detroit, where he began to write poetry, encouraged by his mother, to whom he dedicated the book of poems ''The Mercy''. Levine earned his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1950 and went to work for

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

and

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

in what he called "stupid jobs." The work, he later wrote, was “so heavy and monotonous that after an hour or two I was sure each night that I would never last the shift.” He married his first wife, Patty Kanterman, in 1951. The marriage lasted until 1953. In 1953, he attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

without registering, studying with, among others, poets

Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects i ...

and

John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...

, the latter of whom Levine called his "one great mentor." In 1954, he earned a mail-order

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

with a thesis on

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

' "Ode to Indolence," and married actress Frances J. Artley. He returned to the University of Iowa teaching technical writing, and completed his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in 1957. The same year, he was awarded the Jones Fellowship in Poetry at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. In 1958, he joined the English department at

, where he taught until his retirement in 1992. He also taught at many other universities, among them

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

as Distinguished Writer-in-Residence, Columbia,

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

Tufts Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

, Vanderbilt, and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Levine and his wife had made their homes in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

and

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...

. He died of pancreatic cancer on February 14, 2015, age 87.

Work

The familial, social, and economic world of twentieth-century Detroit is one of the major subjects of Levine's work. His portraits of working class Americans and his continuous examination of his Jewish immigrant inheritance (both based on real life and described through fictional characters) has left a testimony of mid-twentieth century American life. Levine's working experience lent his poetry a profound skepticism with regard to conventional American ideals. In his first two books, ''On the Edge'' (1963) and ''Not This Pig'' (1968), the poetry dwells on those who suddenly become aware that they are trapped in some murderous processes not of their own making. In 1968, Levine signed the “

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...

” pledge, vowing to refuse to make tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. In his first two books, Levine was somewhat traditional in form and relatively constrained in expression. Beginning with ''They Feed They Lion'', typically Levine's poems are free-verse monologues tending toward

trimeter In poetry, a trimeter (Greek for "three measure") is a metre of three metrical feet per line. Examples: : When here // the spring // we see, : Fresh green // upon // the tree. See also * Anapaest * Dactyl * Tristich * Triadic-line poetry Triad ...

tetrameter In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet. The particular foot can vary, as follows: * ''Anapestic tetrameter:'' ** "And the ''sheen'' of their ''spears'' was like ''stars'' on the ''sea''" (Lord Byron, "The Destruction of Sennacher ...

. The music of Levine's poetry depends on tension between his line-breaks and his syntax. The title poem of Levine's book ''1933'' (1974) is an example of the cascade of clauses and phrases one finds in his poetry. Other collections include ''The Names of the Lost'', ''A Walk with Tom Jefferson'', ''New Selected Poems,'' and the National Book Award-winning ''What Work Is''. On November 29, 2007 a tribute was held in New York City in anticipation of Levine's eightieth birthday. Among those celebrating Levine's career by reading Levine's work were

Yusef Komunyakaa Yusef Komunyakaa (born James William Brown; April 29, 1941) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for ''Neo ...

Galway Kinnell Galway Mills Kinnell (February 1, 1927 – October 28, 2014) was an American poet. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his 1982 collection, ''Selected Poems'' and split the National Book Award for Poetry with Charles Wright. From 1989 to 19 ...

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

, Charles Wright,

Jean Valentine __NOTOC__ Jean Valentine (April 27, 1934December 29, 2020) was an American poet and the New York State Poet Laureate from 2008 to 2010. Her poetry collection, ''Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965–2003'', was awarded the 2004 Na ...

and

Sharon Olds Sharon Olds (born November 12, 1942) is an American poet. Olds won the first San Francisco Poetry Center Award in 1980, the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

. Levine read several new poems as well. Near the end of his life, Levine, an avid jazz aficionado, collaborated with jazz saxophonist and composer Benjamin Boon

on the melding of his poetry and narration with music. The resulting CD, “The Poetry of Jazz” (Origin Records 82754), was released posthumously on March 16, 2018. It contains fourteen of Levine's poems and performances by Levine and Boone as well as jazz greats Chris Potter, Greg Osby, and Tom Harrell .

Awards

*2013

Wallace Stevens Award *2011 Appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (

United States Poet Laureate The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress—commonly referred to as the United States Poet Laureate—serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national cons ...

) *1995

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published ...

– ''The Simple Truth'' (1994) *1991

National Book Award for Poetry The National Book Award for Poetry is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".

"National Book Awards – 1991"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved February 27, 2012. and

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

– ''What Work Is'' *1987

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize The Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize is awarded annually by The Poetry Foundation, which also publishes Poetry (magazine), ''Poetry'' magazine. The prize was established in 1986 by Ruth Lilly. It honors a living U.S. poet whose "lifetime accomplishments war ...

from the Modern Poetry Association and the American Council for the Arts *1981 Levinson Prize from

Poetry magazine ''Poetry'' (founded as ''Poetry: A Magazine of Verse'') has been published in Chicago since 1912. It is one of the leading monthly poetry journals in the English-speaking world. Founded by Harriet Monroe, it is now published by the Poetry Foundat ...

*1980 Guggenheim Foundation fellowship *1980

"National Book Awards – 1980"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
(With essay by John Murillo from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) – ''Ashes: Poems New and Old'' *1979

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

from the

– ''The Names of the Lost'' (1975) *1973 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Frank O'Hara Prize, Guggenheim Foundation fellowship

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * *
''Not This Pig''
Wesleyan University Press, 1968, ; Wesleyan University Press, 1982, *''Pili's Wall'', Unicorn Press, 1971; Unicorn Press, 1980 *''Red Dust'' (1971) *''They Feed They Lion'', Atheneum, 1972 *''1933'', Atheneum, 1974, *''The Names of the Lost'', Atheneum, 1976 *''Ashes: Poems New and Old'', Atheneum, 1979, *''7 Years From Somewhere'', Atheneum, 1979, *''One for the Rose'', Atheneum, 1981, *''Selected Poems'', Atheneum, 1984, *''Sweet Will'', Atheneum, 1985, *''A Walk With Tom Jefferson'', A.A. Knopf, 1988, *''New Selected Poems'', Knopf, 1991, *''

What Work Is ''What Work Is'' is a collection of poetry by Philip Levine that explores subjects characteristic of his work, including physical labor, class identity, family relationships, and personal loss. Much of the book is shaped by concerns for blue coll ...

'', Knopf, 1991, *''The Simple Truth'', Alfred A. Knopf, 1994, ; Alfred A. Knopf, 1996, *''Unselected Poems'', Greenhouse Review Press, 1997,
''The Mercy''
Random House, Inc., 1999,
''Breath''
Knopf, 2004, ; reprint, Random House, Inc., 2006, *
Stranger to Nothing: Selected Poems
',

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

, UK, 2006,
''News of the World''
Random House, Inc., 2009,
''The Last Shift''
Random House, Inc., 2016, , published posthumously, edited by

Edward Hirsch Edward M. Hirsch (born January 20, 1950) is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller about reading poetry. He has published nine books of poems, including ''The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems'' (2010), which brings toget ...

;List of poems ;Translations *''Off the Map: Selected Poems of Gloria Fuertes'', edited and translated with Ada Long (1984) *''Tarumba: The Selected Poems of Jaime Sabines'', edited and translated with Ernesto Trejo (1979)

Albums

*''The Poetry of Jazz'', Origin Records, 2018, *''The Poetry of Jazz Volume Two'', Origin Records, 2019,

Essays

*''The Bread of Time'' (1994) *''My Lost Poets'' (2016)

Interviews

*''Don't Ask'', University of Michigan Press, 1981, *
Moyers & Company
', on December 29, 2013, Philip Levine reads some of his poetry and explores how his years working on Detroit's assembly lines inspired his poetry. *
Interlochen Center for the Arts
, Interview with Interlochen Arts Academy students on March 17, 1977.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * *

at

Words on a Wire A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consen ...

Phillip Levine on America's Workers

Moyers & Company ''Moyers & Company'' was a commentary and interview television show hosted by Bill Moyers, and broadcast via syndication on public television stations in the United States. The weekly show covered current affairs affecting everyday Americans, and ...

, December 27, 2013
Correspondence with Gerald Stern
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Philip 1928 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American poets 21st-century American poets American Poets Laureate American academics of English literature California State University, Fresno faculty Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Jewish American poets Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters National Book Award winners New York University faculty Poets from California Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners The New Yorker people University of Houston faculty Wayne State University alumni Writers from Detroit 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers People from Brooklyn Heights Central High School (Detroit) alumni 21st-century American Jews