{"product_id":"elegy-paperback-1","title":"Elegy - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eLarry Levis\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA few days before his death in 1996, Larry Levis mentioned to his friend and former instructor Philip Levine that he had \"an all-but-completed manuscript\" of poems. Levine had years earlier recognized Levis as \"the most gifted and determined young poet I have ever had the good fortune to have in one of my classes\"; after Levis's death, Levine edited the poems Levis had left behind. What emerged is this haunting collection, \u003ci\u003eElegy\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The poems were written in the six years following publication of his previous book, \u003ci\u003eThe Widening Spell of the Leaves\u003c\/i\u003e, and continue and extend the jazz improvisations on themes that gave those poems their resonance. There are poems of sudden stops and threats from the wild: an opossum halts traffic and snaps at pedestrians in posh west Los Angeles; a migrant worker falls victim to the bites of two beautiful black widow spiders; horses starve during a Russian famine; a thief, sitting in the rigging of Columbus's ship, contemplates his work in the New World. The collection culminates in the elegies written to a world in which culture fragments; in which the beasts of burden--the horses, the migrant workers--are worked toward death; a world in which \"Love's an immigrant, it shows itself in its work. \/ It works for almost nothing\"; a world in which \"you were no longer permitted to know, \/ Or to decide for yourself, \/ Whether there was an angel inside you, or whether there wasn't.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eElegy\u003c\/i\u003e, as Levine says, was \"written by one of our essential poets at the very height of his powers. His early death is a staggering loss for our poetry, but what he left is a major achievement that will enrich our lives.\"\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA few days before his death in 1996, Larry Levis mentioned to his friend and former instructor Philip Levine that he had \"an all-but-completed manuscript\" of poems. The poems were written in the six years following publication of his previous book, The Widening Spell of the Leaves, and continue and extend the jazz improvisations on themes that gave those poems their resonance. There are poems of sudden stops and threats from the wild: an opossum halts traffic and snaps at pedestrians in posh west Los Angeles; a migrant worker falls victim to the bites of two beautiful black widow spiders; horses starve during a Russian famine; a thief, sitting in the rigging of Columbus's ship, contemplates his work in the New World. The collection culminates in the elegies written to a world in which culture fragments; in which the beasts of burden - the horses, the migrant workers - are worked toward death; a world in which \"Love's an immigrant, it shows itself in its work.\/ It works for almost nothing\"; a world in which \"you were no longer permitted to know, \/ Or to decide for yourself, \/Whether there was an angel inside you, or whether there wasn't\".\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eLarry Levis was born in Fresno, California, in 1946. His first book of poems, \u003ci\u003eWrecking Crew\u003c\/i\u003e, won the United States Award from the International Poetry Forum, and was published in the Pitt Poetry Series in 1972. His second book, \u003ci\u003e The Afterlife\u003c\/i\u003e, won the Lamont Award from the American Academy of Poets in 1976. In 1981, \u003ci\u003eThe Dollmaker's Ghost\u003c\/i\u003e was a winner of the Open Competition of the National Poetry Series. Among his other awards were three fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Larry Levis died in 1996.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 96\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.1 x 9.1 x 5.7 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 30, 1997\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42706553831487,"sku":"9780822956488","price":25.92,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/89a27365ffe51b94a66bb551ac6b697e.webp?v=1765040883","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/elegy-paperback-1","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}