QuoteProject
Throughout his work, Philip Levine's most powerful commitment has been to the failed and lost, the marginal, the unloved, the unwanted.
Edward Hirsch
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights Philip Levine's dedication to representing the marginalized and overlooked in society through his poetry.

Edward Hirsch's statement about Philip Levine underscores the poet's deep empathy for those who are often ignored or deemed unworthy in society. Levine's work reflects a commitment to giving voice to the 'failed and lost,' illuminating the human experiences of those who live on the fringes, thus elevating their stories and struggles through the art of poetry.

Themes

ArtPoetryMarginalizedEmpathyHuman Experience

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of empathy in art and literature.

More from Edward Hirsch

It's absolutely crucial to maintain my life as a poet.
Edward HirschRead
The commitment to working at poetry is important because a poet is a maker, and a poem is a made thing. We have to honor our feelings by working to transform them into something meaningful and lasting.
Edward HirschRead
As far as I'm concerned, freedom is the most important thing to creativity. You should feel free to write in whatever way, whatever language, feels comfortable to you.
Edward HirschRead
The idea that a poem was a made thing stayed with me, and I decided then that I wanted to be an artist, not just a diarist. So I put myself through a kind of apprenticeship in writing poetry, and I understood even then that my practice as a poet was deeply related to my reading.
Edward HirschRead
And every year there is a brief, startling moment _x000D_ When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and _x000D_ Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless _x000D_ Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air: _x000D_ It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies; _x000D_ It is the changing light of fall falling on us.
Edward HirschRead
When poetry separates from song, then the words have to carry all the rhythm themselves; they have to do all the work. They can't rely on the singing voice.
Edward HirschRead

Similar quotes

Hip-hop is a perfect mix between poetry and boxing.
Jay-ZRead
So much of what I love about poetry lies in the vast possibilities of voice, the spectacular range of idiosyncratic flavors that can be embedded in a particular human voice reporting from the field. One beautiful axis of voice is the one that runs between vulnerability and detachment, between 'It hurts to be alive' and 'I can see a million miles from here.' A good poetic voice can do both at once.
Tony HoaglandRead
But I really resist categories – that naming is a closing down of meaning. Women's art, political art – those categorisations perpetuate a certain kind of marginality which I'm resistant to. But I absolutely define myself as a feminist.
Barbara KrugerRead
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
William WordsworthRead
Picture and sculpture are the celebrations and festivities of form.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
The first poems I knew were nursery rhymes, and before I could read them for myself, I had come to love just the words of them, the words alone.
Dylan ThomasRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.