Library Outreach Events: Philip Levine

Summary
Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for 1995, Philip Levine goes from strength to strength, having received the National Book Ward for Poetry for his earlier book What Work Is. This is the first paperback edition of this text, about which Harold Bloom said, "The controlled pathos of every poem in the volume is immense, & gives me a new sense of Levine."

Reviews
Library Journal
Levine's detailed physicality is so "imitated that his style and diction are now the standard" (LJ 11/1/94). This was a Pulitzer Prize winner. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fear and fame -- coming close -- fire -- Every blessed day -- Growth -- Innocence -- Coming homeward from the post office -- Among children -- What work is -- Snails -- My grave-- Agnus Dei -- Facts -- Gin -- Perennials -- Above the world -- M. Degas teaches art & science at Durfee Intermediate School -- Burned -- Soloing -- Scouting -- Coming of age in Michigan -- Right cross -- Sweetness of Bobby Hefka -- On the river -- Seventh summer.

Summary: Includes selections from the poet's latest works, Sweet will and A walk with Tom Jefferson.
Reviews
Library Journal
Issued simultaneously with his newest book, What Work Is ( LJ 5/1/91), this selection contains all the poems Levine himself chose for inclusion in his earlier Selected Poems ( LJ 6/15/84), plus 15 new poems. This is a monumental work that somehow remains wonderfully accessible, largely because Levine has chosen pieces carefully, favoring shorter works and poems that address his staple themes of family (like ``Uncle'' and ``My Son and I'') and childhood (``Coming Home''). Many of the poems are powerfully imagistic, with telling one-word titles like ``Noon,'' ``Salami,'' ``Milkweed,'' ``Breath,'' ``Starlight,'' ``Snow,'' and ``Roofs.'' Also included are familiar anthology pieces like ``The Horse'' and ``They Feed the Lion.'' Levine is simply one of the best poets working in America today, a winner of the American Book Award, the Marshall Award, and the Lilly Poetry Prize. New Selected Poems and What Work Is constitute a virtually complete record of his work and are thus highly recommended for all poetry collections, large or small.-- Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About the Author: Philip Levine was born in 1928 in Detroit and was formally educated there, in the public schools and at Wayne University (now Wayne State University). After a succession of industrial jobs, he left the city for good and lived in various parts of the country before settling in Fresno, California, where he taught at the state university until his retirement. For twelve autumns he served as poet in residence at New York University. He has received many awards for his books of poems, including the National Book Award in 1991 for What Work Is and the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for The Simple Truth. In 2011 he was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States. He divides his time between Fresno, California, and Brooklyn, New York.

Ebook and print copies available! p. 777+