"It's terrific news," says Al Young, California poet laureate emeritus. "What I love about Philip's work is that it is lyrical, but also socially committed. It's poetry that the mass of people can understand and be moved by right away." Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky says by e-mail that "Philip Levine brings further honor to the title."
W.D. Ehrhardt, a much-published poet who lives in Mount Airy, says, "Philip Levine is a working-class poet, and I mean that as a compliment, born and raised in Detroit, public-school- and state-university-educated. No matter that he has spent his writing life in academia; his poetry still reflects those gritty roots."
Levine was born in 1928 to Russian immigrant parents. His father died in 1933. As a teen, living on the outskirts of Detroit, Philip would go outside after dinner and compose poetry in his head. He worked in car factories such as Detroit Transmission and Chevrolet Gear and Axle, composing as he worked. He has said, "What I found was a voice within myself that I didn't know was there."
In his 20s, he began an academic career that took him to the two most prestigious literature programs in the country, Iowa and Stanford, and on to a career that has included more than 20 books of poems, as well as books of criticism and personal essays.
Perhaps the most enduring quality of Levine's poetry is its vivid picture of the working life. His best-known poem, "What Work Is," has inspired generations of poets by discovering, in unpromising, "unpoetic" material, huge resources of human tenderness. It's also a great example of his style: nearly flat language with irresistible rhythms, building up to a trenchant, emotional climax. The poem starts matter-of-fact and tough-guy:
We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is - if you're
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
