What Work Is Analysis by: Chris Degarmo

Levine starts the poem by describing where he is at which is standing in a long line waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.   The reader instantly feels what it would feel like standing in a long line waiting for work.  You know that the character in the poem is probably struggling to feed his family and you can feel his emotion that he has and that he has probably stood in this line before.  He gets you involved by using the pronoun you and make you feel how it would be to stand in this line and know what work is.  He makes you feel even more depressed by describing the rain that begins to fall.  The rain starts to make his vision blur and this is when he thinks he sees his brother ahead of him, maybe ten places.  He then wipes off his glasses and realizes that it is not his brother.  He then starts to think about his brother and describes what a hard worker he is.  He loves his brother and then starts to think about how he provides for his family and even gets up after working all night to study German.  The reader feels that the man wants to be like his brother and be able to provide for his family and still do the things that he wants to do, so he waits in this long line hoping for work.  You begin to feel the love that he has for his brother and how much he idolizes him and wants to be just like him.  He knows at the end of this line he is waiting in that there will be a man that says “No, we are not hiring today” but because he loves his brother he will continue to come back and wait in the line again. 

The poem is not so much about work but waiting for work, and what it feels like to wait in a long line and know that you may not be hired that day.  The man is determined to provide for his family so he doesn’t mind the waiting.  It gives him time to think about what is important in his life like family.  The poem was probably written about the depression when people actually waited in line in hopes of being hired for a job.  This waiting took place during the depression not only for jobs but for food.  People during the depression knew what hard work was but they didn’t mind it if it provided food for their family.  Levine was familiar with this time period and probably had experience or knew someone who stood in these long lines.  The poem though depressing gives us an insight into the love this man had in his heart for his family and his brother.  This love was so strong that he was willing to wait in the rain for a long time in hopes of getting a job to prove that he could be like his brother.  The poem shows that man values many things in his life, first of all his family, second of all his work ethic.  In the last line where he states “just because you don’t know what work is” shows that even though he might not know what work is he will do it for the love of his brother and his family.