The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was" or "The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear" () is a German folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is tale number 4 in the collection. It was also included by Andrew Lang in "The Blue Fairy Book" (1889). The Grimms' first, 1812 edition contained a much shorter version, "Good Bowling and Card Playing" (). It is classified as its own Aarne–Thompson index type 326 of a male protagonist's unsuccessful
What Work Is Fame" and "Growth" are direct accounts of two of Levine's jobs as a young man. "Fear and Fame" is based on a job Levine had cleaning out and refilling acid vats in his mid twenties. "Growth" is about the job Levine held at a soap factory at the age of fourteen. Many of Levine's poems are based on his experience growing up in Detroit. The titular poem, "What Work Is", is based on Levine's experience of waiting in a Detroit employment line. "The Right Cross" is related to a boxing teacher who taught Levine to defend himself while growing up