Resistance: A reading of pig symbolism in Philip Levine's "Animals are Passing from our Lives." Salome Salo College

Philip Levine is one of the renowned poets who take up a momentous, noteworthy, and substantial spot in the realm of global literature. Philip Levine is an American of Jewish descent applauded and celebrated for his portrayal, in realistic terms, of the Detroit working class. Even though Levine employs animal imagery as do other poets, the likes of Ted Hughes, the milieu in terms of the socio-political environment that forms a significant part of their stimulus is largely varied from poet to poet. In this way, Levine's exemplary and prolific employment of language and style in his poetry places him at a central position among the poets of his time. In this essay, the pig's symbolism in Philip Levine's poem "Animals are Passing from our Lives" is comprehensively brought to life with attention paid to understanding the motives behind the varied presentation of animal symbolism in Levine's poetry.

Philip Levine's "Animals are passing from our lives" is a poem that introduces a largely varied perspective, attitude as well as tone to that employed by other animal poets. In this poem, the pig takes center stage and even takes the position of the first subject. The poem introduces such thematic concepts as the slaughter of animals,...