Philip Levine: February 20, 1962

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Philip Levine reads poems from his book, On the Edge

Originally Recorded By
APA
Location
Gallery Lounge, SFSC
Date
02/20/1962
Total Run Time
0:44:02
Contributor
James Schevill
Rights
©© American Poetry Archives. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For all other uses please email poetry@sfsu.edu
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2877
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  • James Schevill introduces Philip Levine (00:00)
  • Philip Levine discusses the order of the poems he will read (01:25)
  • Remarks on "The Drunkard" which was influenced by a sermon by Saint Ambrose (01:59)
  • "The Drunkard" (02:29)
  • Remarks that the next few poems will be about poetry, the dullest subject you could write a poem about, and discusses inspiration and affect (03:36)
  • Remarks on his poem "On the Edge" and says that the poem is somewhat of a parody of a James Wright poem (04:15)
  • "On the Edge" (04:50)
  • Remarks that the next poem "My Poets" is about the failure of all the poets that he knows, including himself, in life and poetry and also remarks on his dissatisfaction with contemporary poetry (05:55)
  • "My Poets" (06:48)
  • Remarks that the next poem is about his daily life as a teacher in Fresno, Californa and specifically about a day in which no inspiration would come to him (08:20)
  • "Lights I've Seen Before" (09:23)
  • Remarks on "L'Homme et la Bete" a poem influenced by a woodcut by an artist he doesn't remember in a book by Arthur Kessler, Notes on a Hanging and remarks on the killing of Carol Chessman which also influenced the poem (11:08)
  • "L'Homme et la Bete" (11:55)
  • Remarks on the next poem "The Negatives" which is about four French deserters, and he discusses the voices in the poem by commenting between each section (13:53)
  • "The Negatives" (14:50)
  • Remarks on the next poem "Passing Out" and medical issues (21:47)
  • "Passing Out" (23:09)
  • Remarks on the next poem "Small Game" and hunting (25:28)
  • "Small Game" (27:08)
  • Remarks on an abandoned factory in Detroit, Michigan where he used to work (29:01)
  • "An Abandoned Factory, Detroit" (30:16)
  • Remarks on his son whose sickness with asthma influenced the next poem "Night Thoughts of a Sick Child" and also jokes about inspiration (31:32)
  • "Night Thoughts of a Sick Child" (33:14)
  • Remarks on love poems and how he came to write the next poem "The Lady and the Symbolist" (35:14)
  • "The Lady and the Symbolist" (37:07)
  • Remarks on the torture of Algerians by the French and the book the title of the next poem is named after (39:13)
  • "Gangrene" (39:51)
  • Remarks on "For Fran" (42:06)
  • "For Fran" (42:42)

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