Philip Levine

In the first selection "Animals Are Passing From Our Lives" I think the pig may have represented us as humans and how we just go thought the motions in every day life. The imagery used was like the daily operations of a slaughterhouse I suppose a similarity to our routines to how we just fall in line and do the same things as one another. The last line "No Not this pig" I think maybe was a statement that he wasn't going to be complacent and just follow along. The second selection "They Feed They Lion" gave me the impression that the speaker was indeed white even though the poem was more actually about the oppressed workers both black and white. In some of the information I read Levine worked along side a black man in the factory where he obviously gained more knowledge about the treatment of the workers and the black citizens especially. I noticed he also used some spiritual references too like in line 22 for example when he said "from bow down come rise up" and suppose that meant its time for citizen or workers to rise up against the oppression rather than continuing to bow down. In the last selection "Fear and Fame" I think he may have been describing the look on people's faces as we rode a bus or went about the city. Once again I think this poem was dedicated to the blue collar workers who have dangerous jobs and put their future health at great risk only to spent the rest of their days suffering from diseases or sickness related to a certain job all for what.