Remembering Poet Philip Levine

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Levine died on Saturday at the age of 87. The former U.S. poet laureate held a series of blue collar jobs before becoming a writer, and his poems often paid homage to the working class.

Here & Now pays tribute to Philip Levine with an excerpt of Robin Young’s conversation with the poet, which originally aired on Labor Day 2011.

• Hear the original interview and Philip Levine’s readings of three poems

Guest

• Philip Levine, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet. He was U.S. poet laureate from 2011–2012.

More Conversations About Poetry

• Why Fresno Is The Land Of Poets
• Cowboy Poetry: A Lesson From Gail Steiger
• African American Poetry of the 1800s
• All-Women New York Poetry Slam Team Heads to the Nationals
• Khaled Mattawa’s Journey From Arabic To English And Back Again
• Young Poet’s ‘Shrinking Women’ Goes Viral
• Remembering A Slam Poetry Legend
• Natasha Trethewey Ends Her Tenure As U.S. Poet Laureate
• Lloyd Schwartz’s 6 Favorite New Poets
• A Lesson On Setting Poetry To Music, With Robin’s Former Choir Director
• Veteran Brian Turner’s Poetry
• Voices Of 20th Century Poets Come Alive Once More
• Poet David Roderick Explores What It Means to Be American
• Poet Mark Strand Touches On Loss, Also Humor

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.