Philip Levine Quotes

Powerful Philip Levine for Daily Growth

About Philip Levine

**Philip Levine** (January 10, 1928 – February 14, 2015) was an influential American poet, essayist, and educator whose gritty, deeply personal work reflected his working-class upbringing in Detroit. Known for his distinctive voice that captured the raw essence of urban America, Levine left a lasting impact on contemporary poetry. Born in Detroit to Russian Jewish immigrants, Levine's early life was marked by poverty and struggle. He worked various jobs as a teenager, including at an auto factory, before eventually attending Wayne State University. These experiences would later form the basis for much of his work. Levine's literary journey began in earnest when he started publishing poetry in the 1950s. His first collection, "On the Edge" (1968), won the National Book Award and launched him into prominence. Other notable works include "They Feed They Lion" (1964), "The Afterlife" (1976), and "What Work Is" (1991), which also won a National Book Award. Throughout his career, Levine was deeply influenced by the works of Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman. His poetry is characterized by its accessibility, social commentary, and vivid portrayals of working-class life. Some of his most famous quotes include: 1. "A poem should be a small (or large) machine made out of words." 2. "Poetry is a political act." 3. "The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name." Levine served as the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1984 to 1985. He taught at several universities, including California State University, Fresno, where he spent most of his career. His final book, "The Poet Outlaw: Selected and New Poems," was published posthumously in 2016. Philip Levine's work continues to resonate with readers today, offering a poignant testament to the human spirit and the power of poetry to give voice to our shared experiences.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"We are a people in a country not our own."

This quote by Philip Levine reflects a sense of dislocation, alienation, or estrangement that some individuals may feel when living in a place (a "country") that is different from their cultural or national background ("not our own"). It suggests an ongoing struggle to reconcile one's identity with the environment around them and may resonate with immigrants, refugees, or minorities who feel disconnected from mainstream society. However, it could also be interpreted more broadly as a commentary on feelings of displacement, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, when facing societal changes or upheaval.

"What is real will always catch us up."

The phrase "What is real will always catch us up" emphasizes the inevitability of reality. No matter how hard we may try to evade or ignore it, truths about ourselves, our world, or our circumstances will eventually confront us. This quote serves as a reminder that attempting to escape from or deny reality has limited success and that facing and accepting reality is essential for personal growth and understanding.

"I stand at the edge of a vast, dark pool and look into its mysteries."

This quote suggests a sense of introspection and exploration, as if the speaker (Philip Levine) is on the verge of discovering deep truths or hidden realities, symbolized by the "vast, dark pool." The act of gazing into it implies curiosity, wonder, and perhaps a touch of apprehension, given its mysterious nature. It could also represent a moment of self-reflection or contemplation, where one is looking inward to gain understanding about themselves or their circumstances.

"There's only one way out of the ghetto: with books."

This quote suggests that education, particularly through books, is a primary means of escaping socio-economic hardships associated with living in a ghetto or impoverished area. Reading provides knowledge, opens minds, and equips individuals with the skills necessary to break free from their circumstances and improve their lives. The power of literature, therefore, lies in its ability to inspire, inform, and uplift, ultimately enabling people to transcend limitations imposed by their environment.

"We live in the gaps between the stories we tell ourselves about who we are."

This quote by Philip Levine suggests that our identity is not a fixed, singular entity, but rather a complex and dynamic construct formed by the narratives we create about ourselves. The "gaps" refer to the spaces between these stories, implying that there are aspects of our selves yet to be understood or explored. Essentially, it underscores the importance of self-reflection and continuous growth as individuals, acknowledging the fluidity and complexity inherent in personal identity.

I'm saying look, here they come, pay attention. Let your eyes transform what appears ordinary, commonplace, into what it is, a moment in time, an observed fragment of eternity.

- Philip Levine

Here, Eternity, Pay, Fragment

It's ironic that while I was a worker in Detroit, which I left when I was twenty six, my sense was that the thing that's going to stop me from being a poet is the fact that I'm doing this crummy work.

- Philip Levine

Doing, Fact, Ironic, Detroit

If that voice that you created that is most alive in the poem isn't carried throughout the whole poem, then I destroy where it's not there, and I reconstruct it so that that voice is the dominant voice in the poem.

- Philip Levine

Voice, Alive, Carried, Reconstruct

I listen to jazz about three hours a day. I love Louis Armstrong.

- Philip Levine

Love, Hours, I Love, Louis

I'm afraid we live at the mercy of a power, maybe a God, without mercy. And yet we find it, as I have, from others.

- Philip Levine

Find, Without, Maybe, Mercy

For sure I once thought of myself as the poet who would save the ordinary from oblivion.

- Philip Levine

Thought, Sure, Would, Oblivion

Now I think poetry will save nothing from oblivion, but I keep writing about the ordinary because for me it's the home of the extraordinary, the only home.

- Philip Levine

Think, Will, I Think, Oblivion

My sense of a poem - my notion of how you revise - is: you get yourself into a state where what you are intensely conscious of is not why you wrote it or how you wrote it, but what you wrote.

- Philip Levine

Why, Sense, Wrote, Revise

Meet some people who care about poetry the way you do. You'll have that readership. Keep going until you know you're doing work that's worthy. And then see what happens. That's my advice.

- Philip Levine

Advice, Doing, Some, Readership

My temperament is not geared to that of a novelist.

- Philip Levine

Temperament, Geared, Novelist

My mother carried on and supported us; her ambition had been to write poetry and songs.

- Philip Levine

Mother, Been, Carried, Supported

But most commonly, it's one poem that I work on with a lot of intensity.

- Philip Levine

Intensity, Most, Lot, Commonly

Back then, I couldn't have left a poem a year and gone back to it.

- Philip Levine

Year, Back, Left, Poem

I was very lucky to have a mother who encouraged me to become a poet.

- Philip Levine

Mother, Lucky, Very, Poet

But I'm too old to be written about as a young poet.

- Philip Levine

Young, Old, Too, Poet

There'll always be working people in my poems because I grew up with them, and I am a poet of memory.

- Philip Levine

Memory, Poetry, Always, Poet

I'm seventy-one now, so it's hard to imagine a dramatic change.

- Philip Levine

Change, Now, Imagine, Dramatic Change

I have a sense that many Americans, especially those like me with European or foreign parents, feel they have to invent their families just as they have to invent themselves.

- Philip Levine

Feel, Like, Invent, European

I realized poetry's the thing that I can do 'cause I can stick at it and work with tremendous intensity.

- Philip Levine

Work, Realized, Cause, Intensity

I started listening to music when I wrote when I had three sons at home.

- Philip Levine

Music, Listening, Wrote, Sons

The irony is, going to work every day became the subject of probably my best poetry.

- Philip Levine

Work, Going, Became, Irony

My father died when I was five, but I grew up in a strong family.

- Philip Levine

Father, Strong, Up, Died

No one can write like Vallejo and not sound like a fraud. He's just too much himself and not you.

- Philip Levine

Too Much, Sound, Like, Fraud

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