Introduction
Philip Levine was born on January 10, 1928 in Detroit city of Michigan State. He is famous for his poetry work about the working-class Detroit. He started working in car manufacturing plants at the age of 14 but later as a lecturer at California State University for thirty years teaching in the English Department. Robert Lee Frost (23/3/1974 -29/1/1963) was an American poet born in San Francisco, California. His poet's work is known to depict a rural setting. He started working on his farm before becoming an English teacher at various schools and universities.
The two poets have various similar connections. Looking at their biography, we can see the following connections:
Poetry: both Philip and Robert are poets who recognized for their great work in poetry. However, the two write about different themes and settings with Robert famous for his rural setting and Philip for his working class Detroit.
Work: both poets have worked in the factory labor. Robert is said to have worked at various jobs including factory labor and delivering newspapers while Philip worked at car manufacturing industries as early as age 14. Later on, they went into teaching English at various universities and writing poetry.
Awards: both received many awards for their poetic work throughout their careers. In addition, they both received the Pulitzer award, Robert for the book, A Witness Tree (1943) among others and Philips, The Simple Truth (1994).
Family: they both lost their fathers at an early age. Robert lost his father at the age of eleven and Philip at age five. They both got married in their adulthood.
In their poetic writing, basing our reasoning on the poems, The Road Not Taken and What Work Is, we can critically analyze their social, geographical, political, religious and personal background.
Social life: Philips poem, What Work Is reflects his position in the society, we see him as a casual laborer who lacks a permanent job and goes to the factory with no guarantee that he will get the job. We are told a man waits to say, “No, we’re not hiring today,” this shows that his social status is low due to the consistent lack of work, poor clothing and worry about what his family will eat. He says that he works to feed his family and portrays that work is solely to get money. Robert portrays his social life as being shaped by the decision he took to follow the path that was less travelled. The courage he had led him to a better social class as he recognizes at the end of the poem when he says, “And that made all the differences.”
Geographical: Philips poem depicts the industrial geography in the urban center. He mentions that his brother works on a night shift a feature commonly in urban than the rural.
Roberts poem depict a rural environment where there are many woods and grass.
Two roads diverge in a yellow wood . . . . (Line 1)
Because it was grassy and wanted, wear . . . . (Line 8)
Philip had a sense of dedication and selflessness to both men and women working as laborers and the great Spanish revolutionaries in whose cause he believed to be just and visionary. He wanted to bring justice into the world. He longed to be in a world in which men and women steer the world and equally share its riches and burdens. He believed that life had a purpose that once come close to his sincere religious faith. He believed that it was bad for the government and corporates to exploit the poor. Robert sounded like a Unitarian universalist. He was so confused religiously as he did not discern where to stand. In his other works, he used some not too religious verses from the bible. The Road Not Taken illustrates the difficulties that he went through when making choices and made the wrong choices that finally costed him. The problem of evil was sporadic to him. After the death of his wife, son and daughter, he became so worried that he was a bad man.
Philip wrote What Work Is to feature The Great Depression. During the tragedy, millions of Americans found themselves out of work and tarmacking. During the period the government involved itself in economic matters. Nonetheless, its involvement did not better the lives of Americans and Philip considered the government not alleviating the situation. He was identified with the antifascists during the Spanish civil war. Robert’s work is associated with the scenery and life of New England. Robert grew in politics which he as well found confusing and perceived the political leaders to be making the wrong choices that costed the subjects. His father was also a politician who ran for various posts such as that of a tax collector.
Philip uses old English that requires a deeper understanding and deep interpretation. His diction is quite different from that of Robert who uses plain modern English that readers can so closely relate to the language that is used by the contemporary society.
In conclusion, Philip and Robert, two poets born and brought up under different environments, undergo various experiences that affect their poems. Though the two differ in many aspects, they share a few aspects. Their social, political, religious, geographical and personal backgrounds to a large extend influenced their perception of life.
Works cited
"Philip Levine: The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/philip-levine
"The biography of Robert Frost." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of poems and poets. Poetry Search Engine. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. http://www.poemhunter.com/robert-frost/biography/
"The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost : The Poetry Foundation." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173536
“About Philip Levine.’’ Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/g_l/levine/life.htm
