Abstract

The article compares two poems named "Magpiety," one by Czeslaw Milosz and the other by Philip Levine, to support the view that Milosz influenced Levine. The "Magpiety" poems have key similarities such as a complex use of time, an implication of transcendence or permanence, and a Romantic treatment of physical nature. Although his poem can be interpreted as a tribute, Levine acknowledges Milosz less directly than he could have, while his short story "The Key" speculates that, as a boy, Milosz may have been an anti-Semite. Referring to Bloom's theory of anxiety, the article suggests that Levine may have sensed that his "Magpiety" is too derivative or that he is too uncertain or conflicted about the nature of his literary inheritance. A vehement opponent of anti-Semitism, Levine may have felt or perceived a form of anti-Semitism in Milosz' religious or metaphysical writings. In fact, critics have posited Milosz as an opponent of anti-Semitism; for Levine, though, this opposition may not have been strong enough.

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