Denise Levertov Quotes

British-American poet (1923-1997)

Denise Levertov (24 October 1923 – 20 December 1997) was a British-American poet.

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Birth Name: Priscilla Denise Levertoff

Alternative Names: Priscilla D Levertoff • Priscilla Denise Levertov

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The roses tremble; oh, the sunflower's eye
Is opened wide in sad expectancy.
Westward and back the circling swallows fly,
The rooks' battalions dwindle near the hill.

That low pulsation in the east is war:
No bell now breaks the evening's silent dream.
The bloodless clarity of evening's sky
Betrays no whisper of the battle-scream.

I moonbathed diligently, as others sunbathe.

He himself must be the key, now, to the next door, the next terrors of freedom and joy.

One can anyway only be shown something one knows already, needs already. Showing anyone anything really amounts to removing the last thin film that prevents their seeing what they are looking at.

Perhaps he will not return. But what we have lived
comes back to us. We see more. We feel, as our rings increase,
something that lifts our branches, that stretches our furthest leaf-tips
further.

To serve the people, one must write for the ideal reader. Only for the ideal reader. And who or what is that ideal reader? God. One must imagine, One must deeply imagine

The poet never must lose despair.