Prithee the addressee, as in "if it please you," "prithee" accompanies a request which addresses itself to the threat of being answered in the negative, as though the request were against the addressee's wishes. Stated otherwise, the word "please" suggests that the person being addressed is willing to comply with the request, whereas the word "prithee" suggests that he or she is not willing. This switch from stating the speaker's contrary desire to stating the speaker's wish not to impose signaled a cultural shift in the English-speaking world in which politeness became stated negatively rather than positively. Wider repercussions are observable
What Work Is in Detroit. The cadence of many of the poems in the collection are simple free verse. The rhythm and dictation of much of the collection is normal and easily accessible. Though "What Work Is" takes on many sophisticated subjects such as death, love, loss, and struggle, the collection maintains an easy-to-access feeling. Levine's work in this collection is not to obscure or make grandiose, but instead to reveal and show plainly matters that are important. Levine's structures and word choices reflect this mood of his poetry as he rarely uses complicated punctuation or rhythms. Instead of using highly symbolic words