Balladeer for the working man, newest Poet Laureate of the United States

With the arrival of autumn, we enter a new literary season, according to the Library of Congress. To usher in this period of erudite orchestration and balladry, the Librarian of Congress has appointed poet Philip Levine (who thankfully would never use the phrase erudite orchestration) as the new Poet Laureate of the United States.

Levine was born in 1928. He grew up in Detroit, and worked various blue-collar and manufacturing jobs. He began writing poetry in college, and has since been the recipient of many distinguished honors and awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Describing the inspiration for his poem “What Work Is”, Levine talks of an episode in which he was made to wait in the rain for two hours with a group of men looking for work outside of a Ford plant. He recalls:

“I realized that they’d done this on purpose… They required a test of our docility. If we hadn’t waited for two hours, then we weren’t right for these sh**ty jobs… And it angered me. I carried that anger with me for many, many years…”

The anger at the indignity suffered by America’s working class comes through in much of Levine’s work, especially earlier in his career. His later writing includes more of an ironic, and loving touch.

This “loving irony” is a quality that makes Mr. Levine instantly likable, and it certainly comes through in some of his readings, which are available on the Internet Poetry Archive, hosted by ibiblio. On this site users can listen to Levine, as well as other poets such as Nobel laureates Seamus Heaney and Czeslaw Milosz read and discuss a selection of their own works.

Here is Levine reading his National Book Award-winning poem: “what_work_is”

The IPA is a unique resource, and contains recordings of these distinguished artists that are not found anywhere else. We at ibilio highly recommend browsing the collection, and maybe you too will be inspired to try out your lyrical chops…

In exposure to po’ms are you wanting?

Seek ye words both alluring and haunting?

To remedy this, do not be remiss,

to find them need not be so daunting…

All you have to do is visit the Internet Poetry Archive, at ibiblio!

Hm, maybe we’d better leave it to the pros. Congratulations, Philip Levine!

B.B. visiting an Afro-American Studies class at Yale in 1974

In his New York apartment in 1974

Does this look like a man with the blues?

In celebration of B.B. King’s 86th Birthday (Sep 16) we at ibiblio delved in to the B.B. King archive to bring you some photos of the King of the Blues.

Check out the archive for more pictures, audio and video.

The archive is the work of Dr. William Ferris, professor of history and Senior Associate Director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Legacy of Michael Hart (1947-2011)

"And to wear cool hats!"

Every Christmas we here at ibiblio see our traffic skyrocket. The man behind this spike is Michael Hart, the founder of Project Gutenberg, one of our favorite and most popular partners.

In 1971, Hart began manually entering the text of books into a University of Illinois computer network. This was a solitary passion for 17 years until he was able to publicize his pursuit, convincing others to join. At that time he had uploaded “only” 313 books, including the Bible and the Declaration of Independence.

Today, with thousands of volunteers following Hart’s lead, Project Gutenberg boasts over 17,000 titles, including classics from Kafka, Shakespeare, Plato, and Dickens. Almost any book you could think of from the early 20^th century and before is available to download by anyone with an Internet connection, for free.

So this Christmas, when you get your shiny (or matte) new Kindle or Nook, join thousands of others in accessing the world’s largest collection of free e-books. Curl up in a big chair, and before you start reading, shoot Mr. Hart a quick thank-you.

Michael Hart, the inventor of e-books, the founder of Project Gutenberg, a man who was famously idiosyncratic, and loved by many, died on September 6, 2011 in his home in Urbana Illinois.

The world owes Mr. Hart a debt of gratitude, and we here at ibiblio are sad to lose him. You can read his full obituary at the Project Gutenberg homepage.