28 (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Philip Levine
- First Published: 1986
- Type of Work: Narrative
- Genres: Poetry, Narrative poetry
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, France or French people, Sex or sexuality, Surrealism, Paris, California, West, U.S., Mind and body
The Poem
Based on Philip Levine’s own experiences when he traveled to California on a fellowship to study with the well-known poet and scholar Yvor Winters, “28” is a long narrative poem. In the opening line, the poet describes himself as twenty-eight years old and faithless, a statement that will be repeated throughout the poem. No exact meaning of faithless is given, forcing the reader to speculate about the poet’s intention. He then describes driving across the country while under the almost hallucinatory influence of a fever, seeing birds appear, then vanish, along...
[The entire page is 1534 words long]

