Larry Patrick Levis (September 30, 1946 – May 8, 1996) was an American poet and teacher who published five books of poetry during his lifetime. Two more volumes of previously unpublished poems appeared posthumously, and received general acclaim.

Life and work

Youth

Larry Levis was born in Fresno, California in 1946. He was the fourth (and youngest) child born to William Kent Levis, a grape grower, and Carol Mayo Levis.

Education

Levis earned a bachelor's degree from Fresno State College in 1968, where he had studied under Philip Levine. For Levine's classes and poetry workshops, Levis completed many of the poems that would appear in his first book of poems, Wrecking Crew (1972). Levine and Levis formed a lifelong friendship that left a mark on both their writing and their art. Each continued to exchange poems for critique and consultation —either by mail or in person— during the remainder of Levis's life.<!—Vol. 5, #2–>

Levis earned his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1974. While at Iowa, he became friends with Ernesto Trejo who helped him in his study of 20th-century Spanish poetry. In his foreword to Elegy, Levine acknowledged St. John's guidance while editing the latter volume for posthumous publication in 1997.

Academic career

Levis taught English at the University of Missouri from 1974–1980. He was co-editor of Missouri Review, from 1977 to 1980.

From 1980 to 1992, he was an associate professor at the University of Utah, He was a Fulbright Lecturer in Yugoslavia in 1988.

From 1992 until his death from a heart attack in 1996, Levis was the Senior Poet and a Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University. He was married to his first wife, Barbara Campbell, from 1969 to 1973. His second wife was Marcia Southwick, a fellow poet, whom he married on March 15, 1975. David St. John served as best man. The film shows Levis constantly wrestling with the "dark side" of artistic creation. This included various self-destructive and "bad boy" impulses. Essays and articles about Levis are featured each year in Blackbird, an online journal of literature and the arts published by VCU.

Two previously unpublished poems (eventually collected in The Darkening Trapeze) appeared in The Best American Poetry book series in 2014 and 2016, two decades after his death.

In 2016, a documentary film on the life and poetry of Levis was released titled A Late Style of Fire: Larry Levis, American Poet. It was produced and directed by filmmaker Michele Poulos, .

;Prose

  • The Gazer Within (2000)

;Fiction

  • Black Freckles (1992)

Further reading

  • Buckley, Christopher. Condition of the Spirit - The Life and Work of Larry Levis. (Eastern Washington University, 2004)
  • Naming the Lost: The Fresno Poets (Interviews & Essays). edited by Christopher Buckley (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2021)
  • Prismatics: Larry Levis & Contemporary American Poetry (Interviews from the Documentary Film “A Late Style of Fire”). edited by Gregory Donovan & Michele Poulos (Doha, Qatar & Richmond, VA: Diode Editions)

References

  • Levis Remembered at Blackbird Magazine (links):
  • Believing in words: the Larry Levis papers, online exhibit of archival materials, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
  • Devotion in the Age of Larry Levis, The Missouri Review. 2005 March 29.
  • Friends of Dead Poets Society. Larry Levis’ latest (and possibly last) posthumous collection. The Smart Set. 2016 January 21.