Post by aarubin35 on May 21, 2012 19:43:38 GMT -5
Aaron Rubin
504 words
Philip Levine was born in Detroit, Michigan in the year 1928. The son of Jewish Immigrants, Levine grew up in the industrialized society that Detroit had to offer. Levine was appointed as the United States Poet Laureate for 2011-2012, which is the nation’s official poet. This position has been held by many great poets such as Robert Frost, Billy Collins, and Ted Kooser. Throughout his life, Levine worked at many different factories, writing poetry when he found the time. When he was a young boy, Levine faced many hardships that went along with the great depression. In addition to this, when Levine was five years old, his father died, and both events had a tremendous impact on many of his works.
In 1994, Levine won the Pulitzer Prize for his fifteenth volume of poetry entitled The Simple Truth. In this book, Levine talks about many different aspects of life through his memories and other experiences. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Levine has also received many other awards such as the National Book Award for Poetry for his works What Work IS, and Ashes: Poems New and Old. His works deal mostly with the socio-economic life of the people living in Detroit in the mid to late 20th century.
To say that the industry was a large aspect of his poetry is a gross understatement. In The Escape, Levine tells us that “To come to life in Detroit is to be manufactured without the power of speech…and step by step begin the slow descent into hell or Hamtramck and arrive, designed, numbered, tagged.” He uses the word manufactured as a way to assimilate the people’s lives with the cars that they make, Hamtramck being one of the many factories that were in Detroit. Memory was also a prominent part of his poems. He references his life growing up in Detroit countless times including in his poem Once, where he states that “[he] was eighteen, once, fifty years ago, a kid from a small town with big ideas. Gatsby said if Detroit is your idea of a small town you need another idea, and I needed several.” Many other poems of his dealt with memory, whether it was by a piece of chalk or by the simple truths in life.
Philip Levine is a very influential person in society. He grew up during the Great Depression in an area heavily reliant on its industry, and he faced many hardships with Anti-Semitic slurs of people from the area. This never stopped him from doing what he loved, which was to write poetry. From his first book published, On the Edge(1963) to his most recent work, News of the World(2009), Levine’s poems have touched the lives of many. In addition to his poems, Levine has also worked or taught at many different universities including Stanford, NYU, Colombia, Princeton, and Brown. It is truly an honor to introduce this poet to you all, and I hope that he can inspire you all just as he has inspired me.
504 words
Philip Levine was born in Detroit, Michigan in the year 1928. The son of Jewish Immigrants, Levine grew up in the industrialized society that Detroit had to offer. Levine was appointed as the United States Poet Laureate for 2011-2012, which is the nation’s official poet. This position has been held by many great poets such as Robert Frost, Billy Collins, and Ted Kooser. Throughout his life, Levine worked at many different factories, writing poetry when he found the time. When he was a young boy, Levine faced many hardships that went along with the great depression. In addition to this, when Levine was five years old, his father died, and both events had a tremendous impact on many of his works.
In 1994, Levine won the Pulitzer Prize for his fifteenth volume of poetry entitled The Simple Truth. In this book, Levine talks about many different aspects of life through his memories and other experiences. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, Levine has also received many other awards such as the National Book Award for Poetry for his works What Work IS, and Ashes: Poems New and Old. His works deal mostly with the socio-economic life of the people living in Detroit in the mid to late 20th century.
To say that the industry was a large aspect of his poetry is a gross understatement. In The Escape, Levine tells us that “To come to life in Detroit is to be manufactured without the power of speech…and step by step begin the slow descent into hell or Hamtramck and arrive, designed, numbered, tagged.” He uses the word manufactured as a way to assimilate the people’s lives with the cars that they make, Hamtramck being one of the many factories that were in Detroit. Memory was also a prominent part of his poems. He references his life growing up in Detroit countless times including in his poem Once, where he states that “[he] was eighteen, once, fifty years ago, a kid from a small town with big ideas. Gatsby said if Detroit is your idea of a small town you need another idea, and I needed several.” Many other poems of his dealt with memory, whether it was by a piece of chalk or by the simple truths in life.
Philip Levine is a very influential person in society. He grew up during the Great Depression in an area heavily reliant on its industry, and he faced many hardships with Anti-Semitic slurs of people from the area. This never stopped him from doing what he loved, which was to write poetry. From his first book published, On the Edge(1963) to his most recent work, News of the World(2009), Levine’s poems have touched the lives of many. In addition to his poems, Levine has also worked or taught at many different universities including Stanford, NYU, Colombia, Princeton, and Brown. It is truly an honor to introduce this poet to you all, and I hope that he can inspire you all just as he has inspired me.