Philip Levine was an American poet born in 1928 in Detroit. He experienced the Great Depression of the 1930s and the wars of the mid 20th century. His personal history often played a role in his poetry. One of his best-known collections is They Feed They Lion.
‘Animals Are Passing From Our Lives’ by Philip Levine is a thoughtful piece about the treatment of all living things. It was written in the mid-1960s during protests over the Vietnam War in the United States.
‘Belle Isle, 1949’ by Philip Levine is a poem about a series of moments from a speaker’s youth. He swims in the Detroit River and then returns to his life.