Denise Levertov

1923 — 1997

Denise Levertov was a British-born American poet whose work — spanning from the post-war period through the end of the twentieth century — moved from the precision of the Black Mountain poets to politically engaged anti-war poetry to mystical and religious verse. She published over twenty collections and was one of the most important American poets of the second half of the twentieth century.

Past sales0

PeriodModern

NationalityAmerican

1. Biography

A short life of the author

Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was born on 24 October 1923 in Ilford, Essex, England. Her father was a Russian Hasidic Jew who converted to Christianity and became an Anglican priest; her mother was Welsh. She emigrated to the United States in 1948. She taught at Stanford, MIT, and the University of Washington.

Life and Career

Levertov’s early work — Here and Now (1957), Overland to the Islands (1958), The Jacob’s Ladder (1961) — was shaped by the Black Mountain school, particularly Charles Olson’s projective verse and William Carlos Williams’s insistence on the American idiom. Her poems are precise, sensuous, and attentive to the physical world.

During the Vietnam War, she became a prominent anti-war activist, and her poetry became more politically engaged — To Stay Alive (1971) is a documentary poem about the anti-war movement. This turn alienated some critics who preferred her earlier lyric mode, but the political poems are among her most powerful.

In her later years, she moved toward mystical and religious poetry — she converted to Catholicism in 1990 — producing collections of extraordinary spiritual intensity.

Major Works and Themes

Levertov wrote about perception, politics, spirituality, and the responsibility of the poet to the world. She insisted that poetry is not escapism but “a form of attention.”

Key Works

The Jacob’s Ladder (1961)
To Stay Alive (1971)
Evening Train (1992)

Collecting Levertov

Early collections (New Directions, the dominant publisher throughout her career) bring $30–$80. The Double Image (1946, Cresset Press, London) — her debut — brings $200–$500.