Pumpernickel an old Bavarian term for "hard", either referring to the process used to grind the grain into flour, or the density of the final bread product. According to "Langenscheidts Taschen Wörterbücher" (1956), it refers to a form of "pumping work". The philologist Johann Christoph Adelung states that the word has an origin in the Germanic vernacular where was a New High German synonym for being flatulent, and was a form of the name Nicholas, commonly associated with a goblin or devil (e.g. "Old Nick", a familiar name for Satan), or more generally for a malevolent spirit or demon. Hence, "pumpernickel"
What Work Is workers, but artists, readers, and academics. Levine's poetry is accessible and moving and is utterly American. The poems in "What Work Is" are more subtle in their thematic construction. Levine does not use caricatures in these poems but instead intimates real blue-collar workers. Many of the poems give a representation of a station of life not common in the subject matter of contemporary American poetry. Although not all of "What Work Is" is primarily about the working class. Instead the poems have a wide range and variety. However many of these poems, despite their subject matter, show elements that identify