What Work Is

Philip Levine’s “What Work Is” does not follow a rigid or traditional verse form. The poem is composed of a single stanza block consisting of 42 lines. Levine also eschews traditional metrical constraints, a not at all uncommon practice for poets of his (or the contemporary) period. Levine is, however, careful to maintain a certain consistency of line length. While his lines are not governed by any rhythmic metrical patterns, even loosely, they are almost entirely made up of nine syllables. A nine-syllable line is just one syllable shy of the most common and natural-sounding of English meters: iambic pentameter. While Levine’s lines do hover around this length instead of sticking rigidly to it, they sometime fall short (as with the eight-syllable “that does not hide the stubbornness” (Line 16) or the seven-syllable “You know what work is—if you’re”) (Line 3), or exceed its length (as with the ten-syllable “and of course it’s someone else’s brother” (Line 13) or “not because you’re jealous or even mean”) (Line 39).

Levine’s rejection of meter helps him to keep his text governed by an informal, conversational tone. His (near) precision with line length, rather than contrasting this commitment, serves to strengthen it.