New Poet Laureate fascinated with Spanish Civil War

August 12, 2011
By

Philip Levine

The Library of Congress has announced that Philip Levine is the country’s next Poet Laureate. In 2001, Levine delivered ALBA’s fourth annual Bill Susman lecture, in which he spoke on “Poetry and the Spanish Civil War” and acknowledged his debt, as poet and citizen, to Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Miguel Hernández and César Vallejo. The New York Times reports:

Mr. Levine grew up in Detroit, back when it was still a “vital city,” he said. His parents were emigrants from Russia, but for some reason they told him he was of Spanish ancestry, and as a young man he became fascinated with Spanish anarchism and the Spanish Civil War, which still turn up in his poems.

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One Response to “ New Poet Laureate fascinated with Spanish Civil War ”

  1. Victor Joh on September 12, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    It is comforting to discover that future generations and future artists do not forget the significance of the Spanish Civil War. Philip Levine’s fascination with the war allows shows that even though the war is over, the impacts of the revolution and and the ideals that it left behind still have important significance in our present community.