Levine wrote "Starlight" in the 1970s when he himself was close to fifty years old, much older, in fact, than the age of his own father in the poem. But there is nothing necessarily historically specific about "Starlight." The poem may or may not relate an actual experience or memory. It may be just a mythical anecdote meant to evoke an idea of fatherhood, or a point about reasons human beings find for continuing in their lives in the face of emotional or spiritual exhaustion. This type of poem— often short, anecdotal, first person, frequently confessional, vaguely surreal—was in vogue during the 70's in the United States. Some critics have called the poems resulting from this formula "McPoems," a pejorative designation used to underscore the seeming simplicity of their composition. Critics largely blamed university creative writing workshops and in particular M.F.A. programs for...