The Gazer Within

Poets on Poetry

by Larry Levis, James Marshall, Andrew Miller

The Gazer Within collects the prose of one of America's favorite poets. Refreshingly candid, laugh-out-loud funny, and, at the same time, intimate, the pieces trace Larry Levis's early years growing up on his father's farm, his decision at sixteen to become a poet, and his undergraduate experience in the days of the Vietnam War. In addition to memoir, there are critical reviews, including his seminal essay on the poet Philip Levine, and reviews of poets as diverse as W. D. Snodgrass and Zbigniew Herbert.

David St. John's foreword speaks eloquently of Levis's enduring legacy: "Of the poets of his generation, Larry Levis spoke most powerfully of what it means to be a poet at this historical moment. With the same majesty he brought to his poetry, Larry Levis engaged his readers with the most subtle and disturbing questions of the self to be found in the prose--essays, reviews or interviews--of any contemporary American poet. Broadly international in his scope and deeply personal in his reflections, Levis addressed poetic concerns that are both immediate and timeless. For many of us who struggle with these issues, Larry Levis's prose on poetry stands as some of the most capacious to be found since Randell Jarrell's."

The late Larry Levis was the author of six volumes of poetry. He was Director of the Creative Writing Program, University of Utah; Professor of English, Virginia Commonwealth University; and also taught at the Iowa Writers Workshop.

Genres: Poetry, Essays, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 16, 2001

About the author

Larry Patrick Levis was born in Fresno, California, on September 30, 1946. His father was a grape grower, and in his youth Levis drove a tractor, pruned vines, and picked grapes in Selma, California. He earned a bachelor's degree from Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) in 1968, a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1970, and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1974.

Among his honors were a YM-YWHA Discovery Award, three fellowships in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Fulbright Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Levis died of a heart attack in 1996, at the age of 49.

Reviews

[christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, late writing teacher. As a former student of his, I also loved hearing his voice again. Some inspiring writing about writing.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent, thought-provoking essays on a wide range of topics. The best of these, not strangely, were the narrative-based ones about other poets: Levine, Herbert, Stevens, Holub. The interview with David Wojahn was fun, too. For some reason, however, a number (half) of these essays seemed a bit to thick in the middle, at least for my tastes, a thing I never think about Levis' poems themselves. Still, there are many lucid moments here, as the title essay "The Gazer Within", a meditation on landscape, animals, and ecstasy, proves. Not easy reading, but rewarding to those interested in learning something about craft and the poetic mind from one of our masters.

[Danielle DeTiberus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of essays about the craft of poetry and what it takes to choose the life of a poet. But besides all that, of course, it's Levis at his snarky, self-deprecating, witty best! Read it in the bath one night and thought how sad it was that I never got to bone him. Hey- read it and you'll see what I mean!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Levis's poems, but this book didn't do much for me. Though I guess maybe three and a half stars might be more accurate.

[Ruth Glen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas Gift