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Priscilla Denise Levertov (24 October 1923 – 20 December 1997) was a British-born naturalised American poet. She was a recipient of the
Lannan Literary Award for Poetry The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...
.


Early life and influences

Levertov was born and grew up in Ilford,
Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
.Couzyn, Jeni (1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p74 Her mother, Beatrice Adelaide (née Spooner-Jones) Levertoff, came from a small mining village in North Wales. Her father, Paul Levertoff, had been a teacher at
Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...
and as a Russian
Hasidic Jew Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of conte ...
was held under house arrest during the First World War as an 'enemy alien' by virtue of his ethnicity. He emigrated to the UK and became an
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
priest after converting to Christianity. In the mistaken belief that he would want to preach in a Jewish neighbourhood, he was housed in Ilford, within reach of a parish in
Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an imp ...
, in East London. His daughter wrote, "My father's Hasidic ancestry, his being steeped in Jewish and Christian scholarship and mysticism, his fervour and eloquence as a preacher, were factors built into my cells".Couzyn, Jeni (1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p75 Levertov, who was educated at home, showed an enthusiasm for writing from an early age and studied ballet, art, piano and French as well as standard subjects. She wrote about the strangeness she felt growing up part Jewish, German, Welsh and English, but not fully belonging to any of these identities. She notes that it lent her a sense of being special rather than excluded: " knewbefore I was ten that I was an artist-person and I had a destiny". She noted: "Humanitarian politics came early into my life: seeing my father on a soapbox protesting
Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until Fall of the Fascist re ...
's invasion of
Abyssinia The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
; my father and sister both on soap-boxes protesting Britain's lack of support for Spain; my mother canvasing long before those events for the League of Nations Union; and all three of them working on behalf of the German and Austrian refugees from 1933 onwards… I used to sell the ''
Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...
'' house-to-house in the working class streets of Ilford Lane". When Levertov was five years old she declared she would be a writer. At the age of 12, she sent some of her poems to T. S. Eliot, who replied with a two-page letter of encouragement. In 1940, when she was 17, Levertov published her first poem. During the Blitz, Levertov served in London as a civilian nurse. Her first book, ''The Double Image'', was published six years later. In 1947, she met and married American writer Mitchell Goodman and moved with him to the United States the following year. Although Levertov and Goodman would eventually divorce in 1975, they did have one son, Nikolai, together and lived mainly in New York City, summering in
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...
. In 1955, she became a naturalised American citizen. Levertov's first two books had comprised poems written in traditional forms and language. But as she accepted the US as her new home and became more and more fascinated with the American idiom, she began to come under the influence of the
Black Mountain poets The Black Mountain poets, sometimes called projectivist poets, were a group of mid-20th-century American ''avant-garde'' or postmodern poets centered on Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Background Although it lasted only twenty-three ...
and most importantly
William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
. Her first American book of poetry, ''Here and Now'', shows the beginnings of this transition and transformation. Her poem "With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads" established her reputation.


Later life and work

During the 1960s and 70s, Levertov became much more politically active in her life and work. As poetry editor for ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'', she was able to support and publish the work of feminist and other leftist activist poets. The Vietnam War was an especially important focus of her poetry, which often tried to weave together the personal and political, as in her poem "The Sorrow Dance," which speaks of her sister's death. Also in response to the Vietnam War, Levertov joined the
War Resisters League The War Resisters League (WRL) is the oldest secular pacifist organization in the United States. History Founded in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I, it is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International. It continues ...
, and in 1968 signed the "
Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...
" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the war. Levertov was a founding member of the anti-war collective RESIST along with
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...
, Mitchell Goodman,
William Sloane Coffin William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. In h ...
, and
Dwight Macdonald Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist mag ...
. Much of the latter part of Levertov's life was spent in education. After moving to
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, Levertov taught at
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , p ...
, MIT and
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
. She also lived part-time in Palo Alto and taught at Stanford University, as professor of English (professor emeritus). There she befriended Robert McAfee Brown, a professor of religion at Stanford and pastor. Franciscan Murray Bodo also became a spiritual advisor to her. In 1984 she uncovered notebooks of her mother and father, resolving some personal and religious conflict. In 1989 she moved from
Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area ...
to Seattle, Washington, and lived near Seward Park on Lake Washington, with a view of her beloved Mount Rainier. On the West Coast, she had a part-time teaching stint at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...
and for 11 years (1982–1993) held a full professorship at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
, where she taught in the
Stegner Fellowship The Stegner Fellowship program is a two-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford University. The award is named after American Wallace Stegner (1909–1993), a historian, novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and Stanford faculty mem ...
program. In 1984 she received a Litt. D. from
Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...
. After retiring from teaching, she travelled for a year doing poetry readings in the US and Britain. In 1990 she joined the Catholic Church at St. Edward’s Parish, Seattle; she became involved in protests of the US attack on Iraq. She retired from teaching at Stanford."Denise Levertov: A Poet's Life." In 1994 Levertov was diagnosed with lymphoma, and also suffered pneumonia and acute laryngitis. Despite this she continued to lecture and participate at national conferences, many on spirituality and poetry. In February 1997 she experienced the death of Mitch Goodman. In December 1997, Levertov died at the age of 74 from complications due to lymphoma. She was buried at Lake View Cemetery in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
, Washington. Her papers are held at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
. The first full biography appeared in October 2012 by Dana Greene ''Denise Levertov: A Poet's Life'' (Chicago: University of Illinois, 2012). Donna Krolik Hollenberg's more substantial biography, ''A Poet's Revolution: The Life of Denise Levertov,'' was published by the University of California Press in April 2013.


Political poetry

Both politics and war are major themes in Levertov's poetry. Levertov was published in the '' Black Mountain Review'' during the 1950s, but denied any formal relations with the group. She began to develop her own lyrical style of poetry through those influences. She felt it was part of a poet's calling to point out the injustice of the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, and she also actively participated in rallies, reading poetry at some. Some of her war poetry was published in her 1971 book ''To Stay Alive'', a collection of anti-Vietnam War letters, newscasts, diary entries, and conversations. Complementary themes in the book involve the tension of the individual vs. the group (or government) and the development of personal voice in mass culture. In her poetry, she promotes community and group change through the imagination of the individual and emphasizes the power of individuals as advocates of change. She also links personal experience to justice and social reform. Suffering is another major theme in Levertov's war poetry. The poems "Poetry, Prophecy, Survival," "Paradox and Equilibrium," and "Poetry and Peace: Some Broader Dimensions" revolve around war, injustice, and prejudice. In her volume ''Life at War'', Levertov uses imagery to express the disturbing violence of the Vietnam War. Throughout these poems, she addresses violence and savagery, yet tries to bring grace into the equation, mixing the beauty of language and the ugliness of the horrors of war. The themes of her poems, especially "Staying Alive," focus on both the cost of war and the suffering of the Vietnamese. In her prose work, ''The Poet in the World'', she writes that violence is an outlet. Levertov's first successful Vietnam poetry was her book ''Freeing of the Dust''. Some of the themes of this book of poems are the experience of the
North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
ese, and distrust of people. She attacks the United States pilots in her poems for dropping bombs. Overall, her war poems incorporate suffering to show that violence has become an everyday occurrence. After years of writing such poetry, Levertov eventually came to the conclusion that beauty and poetry and politics can't go together. This opened the door wide for her religious-themed poetry in the later part of her life.


Religious influences

From a very young age Levertov was influenced by her religion, and when she began writing it was a major theme in her poetry.Couzyn, Jeni (1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p78 Through her father she was exposed to both Judaism and Christianity. Levertov always believed that her culture and her family roots had inherent value to herself and her writing. Furthermore, she believed that she and her sister had a destiny pertaining to this. When Levertov moved to the United States, she fell under the influence of the Black Mountain Poets, especially the mysticism of
Charles Olson Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York ...
. She drew on the experimentation of
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
and the style of
William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
, but was also exposed to the
Transcendentalism Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in New England. "Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Wald ...
of Thoreau and Emerson. Although all these factors shaped her poetry, her conversion to Christianity in 1984 was the main influence on her religious writing. Sometime shortly after her move to Seattle in 1989, she became a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. In 1997, she brought together 38 poems from seven of her earlier volumes in ''The Stream & the Sapphire'', a collection intended, as Levertov explains in the foreword to the collection, to "trace my slow movement from agnosticism to Christian faith, a movement incorporating much doubt and questioning as well as affirmation."


Religious themes

Denise Levertov wrote many poems with religious themes throughout her career. These poems range from religious imagery to implied metaphors of religion. One particular theme was developed progressively throughout her poetry. This was the pilgrimage/spiritual journey of Levertov towards the deep spiritual understanding and truth in her last poems. One of her earlier poems is "A Tree Telling of Orpheus" from her book ''Relearning the Alphabet''. This poem uses the metaphor of a tree, which changes and grows when it hears the music of
Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...
. This is a metaphor of spiritual growth. The growth of the tree is like the growth of faith, and as the tree goes through life we also go through life on a spiritual journey. Much of Levertov's religious poetry was concerned with respect for nature and life. Also among her themes were nothingness and absence. In her earlier poems something is always lacking, searching, and empty. In "Work that Enfaiths" Levertov begins to confront this "ample doubt" and her lack of "burning surety" in her faith.Gallant, James. "Entering No-Man's Land: The Recent Religious Poetry of Denise Levertov." ''Renascence'' 50 (1998): 122–134. The religious aspect of this is the doubt vs. light debate. Levertov cannot find a balance between faith and darkness. She goes back and forth between the glory of God and nature, but doubt constantly plagues her. In her earlier religious poems Levertov searches for meaning in life. She explores God as he relates to nothing(ness) and everything. In her later poetry, a shift can be seen. ''A Door in the Hive'' and ''Evening Train'' are full of poems using images of cliffs, edges, and borders to push for change in life. Once again, Levertov packs her poetry with metaphors. She explores the idea that there can be peace in death. She also begins to suggest that nothing is a part of God. "Nothingness" and darkness are no longer just reasons to doubt and agonise over. "St. Thomas Didymus" and "Mass" show this growth, as they are poems that lack her former nagging wonder and worry. In ''Evening Train'', Levertov's poetry is highly religious. She writes about experiencing God. These poems are breakthrough poems for her. She writes about a mountain, which becomes a metaphor for life and God. When clouds cover a mountain, it is still huge and massive and in existence. God is the same, she says. Even when He is clouded, we know He is there. Her poems tend to shift away from constantly questioning religion to accepting it simply. In "The Tide," the final section of ''Evening Train'', Levertov writes about accepting faith and realizing that not knowing answers is tolerable. This acceptance of the paradoxes of faith marks the end of her "spiritual journey." Levertov's heavy religious writing began at her conversion to Christianity in 1984. She wrote a great deal of metaphysical poetry to express her religious views, and began to use Christianity to link culture and community together. In her poem "Mass" she writes about how the Creator is defined by His creation. She writes a lot about nature and individuals. In the works of her last phase, Levertov sees Christianity as a bridge between individuals and society, and explores how a hostile social environment can be changed by Christian values.Dewey, Anne. "The Art of the Octopus: The Maturation of Denise Levertov's Political Vision." ''Renascence'' 50 (1998): 65–81.


Legacy

Levertov wrote and published 24 books of poetry, and also criticism and translations. She also edited several anthologies. Among her many awards and honours, she received the Shelley Memorial Award, the
Robert Frost Medal The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the society have included such renowned poets as Witter Bynner, Ro ...
, the
Lenore Marshall Prize The Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize is administered by the Academy of American Poets selected by the New Hope Foundation in 1994. Established in 1975, this $25,000 award recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in ...
, the Lannan Award, a Catherine Luck Memorial Grant, a grant from the
National Institute of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
, and a
Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...
. Levertov's 'What Were They Like?' is currently included in the Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) English Literature poetry anthology, and the Conflict cluster of the OCR GCSE (9-1) English Literature poetry anthology, 'Towards a World Unknown.'


Bibliography


Primary works

: '' The Double Image'' (London: The Cresset Press, 1946) : '' Here and Now'' (San Francisco, Calif.: City Lights Pocket Book Shop, The Pocket Poets Series: Number Six, 1956) : '' Overland to the Islands'' (Highlands, N.C.: Jonathan Williams, Publisher, 1958) : '' With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1959) : '' The Jacob's Ladder'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1961) : '' O Taste and See: New Poems'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1964) : '' The Sorrow Dance'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1967) : '' Relearning the Alphabet'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1970) : '' To Stay Alive'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1971) : '' Footprints'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1972) : '' The Freeing of the Dust'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1975) : '' Life in the Forest'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1978) : '' Collected Earlier Poems 1940–1960'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1979) : '' Pig Dreams: Scenes from the Life of Sylvia'' (Woodstock, Vt.: The Countryman Press, 1981), Pastels by Liebe Coolidge : '' Candles in Babylon'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1982) : '' Poems 1960–1967'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1983) : '' Oblique Prayers: New Poems'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1984) : '' Poems 1968–1972'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1987) : '' Breathing the Water'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1987) : '' A Door in the Hive'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1989) : '' Evening Train'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1992) : '' A Door in the Hive / Evening Train'' (1993) : '' Sands of the Well'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 1996) : '' This Great Unknowing: Last Poems'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, 2000), With a Note on the Text by Paul A. Lacey : '' Poems 1972–1982'' (New York: New Directions Publishing, New Directions Paperbook NDP913, 2001)


Collections

*''"The Collected Poems of Denise Levertov'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 11/2013), Edited and Annotated by Paul A. Lacey and Anne Dewey, with an Introduction by Eavan Boland, Afterword by Paul A. Lacey & Anne Dewey *''The Life Around Us: Selected Poems on Nature'' (1997) *''Making Peace'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, New Directions Bibelot NDP1023, 2005), Edited, with an Introduction, by Peggy Rosenthal *''The Stream & the Sapphire: Selected Poems on Religious Themes'' (1997) *''Selected Poems'' (UK: Bloodaxe Books, 1986). :This is not to be confused with the 2002 US volume of the same title. From Neil Astley, of Bloodaxe Books: :"''Selected Poems'' (1986) had no editor as such: the book was edited by Bloodaxe Books in consultation with Denise Levertov, with helpful suggestions made by Linda Anderson and Cynthia Fuller. It was originated by Bloodaxe Books for publication in the UK and there was no corresponding US edition. It had no introduction or preface." *''Selected Poems'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2002), preface by Robert Creeley, edited with an afterword by Paul A. Lacey *''New Selected Poems'' (UK: Bloodaxe Books, 2003), preface by Robert Creeley, edited with an afterword by Paul A. Lacey :The latter two volumes are identical in contents. From Neil Astley, of Bloodaxe Books: :"''New Selected Poems'' was first published in the US by New Directions in 2002 under the title ''Selected Poems,'' and published by Bloodaxe Books in the UK in 2003 under the title ''New Selected Poems'' to avoid confusion with the previous UK edition called ''Selected Poems''. It was edited with an afterword by Paul A. Lacy and has a preface by Robert Creeley. So it is the same book as New Directions' ''Selected Poems''."


Prose

*''The Poet in the World'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1973) *''Light Up the Cave'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1981) *''New & Selected Essays'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1992) *''Tesserae: Memories & Suppositions'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1995)


Letters

*''The Letters of Denise Levertov and
William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism. In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
'', Edited by Christopher MacGowan (1998). *''The Letters of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov'' (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004), Edited by Robert J. Bertholf &
Albert Gelpi Albert Gelpi is the Coe Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Stanford University. He taught literature, particularly poetry, there between 1968 and 2002. Gelpi also wrote a trilogy of literary criticism involving American poetry: *''The Ten ...
.


Translations

*''Black Iris: Selected Poems by Jean Joubert'' (Port Townsend, WA:
Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both ...
, 1988), Translated from the French by Denise Levertov *''In Praise of Krishna: Songs from the Bengali'' (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Anchor Books, 1967), Translated by Edward C. Dimock, Jr. and Denise Levertov, with an introduction and notes by Edward Dimock, Jr., Illustrated by Anju Chaudhuri *''No Matter No Fact'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, February 1988), Alain Bosquet, Translated by Samuel Beckett, Eduard Roditi, Denise Levertov, and Alain Bosquet *''Selected Poems by Eugene Guillevic'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1969) *''White Owl and Blue Mouse'' (Cambridge, MA: Zoland Books, 1991), Jean Joubert, Illustrations by Michel Gay


Edited by Denise Levertov

*''The Collected Poems of Beatrice Hawley, The'' (Cambridge, MA: Zoland Books, 1989), Edited and with an Introduction by Denise Levertov *''Out of the War Shadow: An Anthology of Current Poetry'' (NY: War Resisters League, 1967), compiled and edited by Denise Levertov *''Songs from an Outcast'' (Los Angeles, CA: UCLA American Indian Studies Center, 2000), John E. Smelcer


References


Interviews

*''Conversations with Denise Levertov'' (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, Literary Conversations Series, 1 November 1998), Edited by Jewel Spears Brooker.
"Con-versing with Denise Levertov"Kalliope: A Journal of Woman's Art and Literature
Spring/Summer 1979), William Slaughter.


Bibliography

*''A Bibliography of Denise Levertov'' (New York: Phoenix Book Shop, Paper, 1972), Compiled by Robert A. Wilson. *''Denise Levertov: An Annotated Primary and Secondary Bibliography'' (NY: Garland Publishing, Garland Reference Library of the Humanities, Vol. 856, November 1988), Liana Sakelliou-Schultz.


Criticism

*''Critical Essays on Denise Levertov'' (Boston, MA: G. K. Hall & Co., Critical Essays on American Literature, January 1991), Edited by Linda Wagner-Martin. *''Denise Levertov'' (DeLand, FL: Everett/Edwards, 1972), Charles Molesworth. *''Denise Levertov'' (NY: Twayne Publishers, Inc., Twayne's United States Authors Series 113, 1967), Linda Welshimer Wagner. *''Denise Levertov: In Her Own Province'' (NY: New Directions Publishing Corporation, Insights, Working Papers in Contemporary Criticism, Paper, May 1979), Edited by Linda W. Wagner. *''Denise Levertov: New Perspectives'' (West Cornwall, CT: Locust Hill Press, 2000), Edited by Anne Colclough Little and Susie Paul. *''Denise Levertov Revisited'' (Boston, MA: Macmillan Library Reference/Twayne Publishers, Inc., 30 July 1997), Diana Surman Collecott. *''Denise Levertov: Selected Criticism'' (Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, Paper, 1993), Edited, with an Introduction, by Albert Gelpi . *''Denise Levertov: The Poetry of Engagement'' (Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Associated University Presses, Inc., March 1993), Audrey T. Rodgers. *''From Out of the Vietnam Vortex: a study of poets and poetry against the war'' (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1974), James F. Mersmann. *''A House of Good Proportion: Images of Women in Literature (NY: Simon and Schuster, 1973), Michele Murray. *''Levertov's Poetry of Revelation, 1988–1998: The Mosaic of Nature and Spirit'' (Athens, Greece: George Dardanos, Paper, June 1999/February 2002), Liana Sakelliou. *''Our Last First Poets: Vision and History in Contemporary American Poetry'' (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1981), Cary Nelson. *''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry in English'' (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), Edited by Ian Hamilton. *''The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States'' (NY: Oxford University Press, 1995), Edited by Cathy N. Davidson and Linda Wagner-Martin. *''Poetics of the Feminine: Authority and Literary Tradition in William Carlos Williams, Mina Loy, Denise Levertov, and Kathleen Fraser'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Studies, March 1994), Linda A. Kinnahan. *''The Poetry of Politics, the Politics of Poetry'' (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, Paper, 2006), Edited by Albert Gelpi and Robert J. Bertholf. *''Poets in Progress: Critical Prefaces to Thirteen Modern American Poets'' (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1967), Edited by Edward Buell Hungerford. *''Revelation and Revolution in the Poetry of Denise Levertov'' (London: Binnacle Press, 1981), Peter Middleton. *''Understanding Denise Levertov'' (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988), Harry Marten. *''Writing in a Nuclear Age'' (Hanover, NH: New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly: Distributed by University Press of New England, 1984), Edited by Jim Schley.


Biography

*Green, Dana. ''Denise Levertov: A Poet's Life'' (Chicago: University of Illinois, 2012). First full biography of the author. *Hollenberg, Donna Krolik, ''A Poet's Revolution: The Life of Denise Levertov'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 17 April 2013). More authoritative biography of the author.


Further reading

* Keillor, Garrison
"Poems by Denise Levertov"
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The Writer's Almanac ''The Writer's Almanac'' is a daily podcast and newsletter of poetry and historical interest pieces, usually of literary significance. Begun as a radio program in 1993,David Kipen"Flat, Slow and Fetching" ''Los Angeles Times'', April 18, 1993. it ...
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Notes


External links

*
Profile and poems at the Academy of American Poets

Profile and poems at the Poetry Foundation





Denise Levertov Page on New Directions Publishing
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levertov, Denise 1923 births 1997 deaths American tax resisters English women poets English people of Russian-Jewish descent English people of Welsh descent English Roman Catholics Black Mountain poets Catholic poets Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism British emigrants to the United States 20th-century British poets Jewish poets People from Ilford Roman Catholic writers 20th-century American poets 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers 20th-century American women writers