Denise Levertov facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Denise Levertov
Born	Priscilla Denise Levertoff 24 October 1923 Ilford, Essex, England
Died	20 December 1997(1997-12-20) (aged 74) Seattle, Washington, USA
Occupation	Poet
Period	1946 to 1997
Notable awards	Shelley Memorial Award (1984) Robert Frost Medal (1990)

Priscilla Denise Levertov (born October 24, 1923 – died December 20, 1997) was a famous poet. She was born in Britain but later became an American citizen. Her poem "What Were They Like?" is often studied in English classes today.

Early Life and Becoming a Poet

Denise Levertov grew up in Ilford, England. Her mother was from Wales, and her father was a Russian Jewish man who became an Anglican priest. Her father's background in Jewish and Christian studies greatly influenced her.

Denise was taught at home and loved writing from a young age. She also studied ballet, art, and music. She felt unique growing up with mixed heritage (Jewish, German, Welsh, and English). She knew early on that she wanted to be an artist.

Her family was very involved in politics. Her father protested against leaders like Benito Mussolini. Her parents and sister also helped refugees from Germany and Austria. Denise herself sold newspapers to support workers' rights.

When she was five, Denise decided she would be a writer. At age 12, she sent her poems to the famous poet T. S. Eliot. He wrote back with a two-page letter, encouraging her to keep writing!

Her first poem was published in 1940 when she was 17. During World War II, she worked as a nurse in London. Her first book of poems, The Double Image, came out six years later.

In 1947, she married American writer Mitchell Goodman. They moved to the United States in 1948. They had a son named Nikolai. Denise became an American citizen in 1955.

At first, Denise wrote poems in traditional styles. But after moving to the US, she became interested in American ways of speaking. She was influenced by poets like William Carlos Williams. Her book Here and Now showed this change. Her poem "With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads" made her well-known.

Later Life and Activism

In the 1960s and 1970s, Denise Levertov became very active in politics. She used her poetry to speak out about important issues. As a poetry editor for The Nation magazine, she helped publish other poets who shared her views.

The Vietnam War was a very important topic for her. She wrote many poems that mixed her personal feelings with political ideas. For example, her poem "The Sorrow Dance" talks about her sister's death and the war.

Denise joined groups that protested the war. She even refused to pay some taxes to show her disagreement. She helped start an anti-war group called RESIST with other famous people like Noam Chomsky.

Denise spent much of her later life teaching. She taught at several universities, including Brandeis University, MIT, and Stanford University. She loved teaching and helping young writers.

In 1989, she moved to Seattle, Washington. She continued to teach part-time at the University of Washington. She retired from teaching in 1993.

In 1990, Denise joined the Catholic Church. She also protested against the US attack on Iraq. In 1994, she became ill with lymphoma. Despite her health problems, she continued to give lectures and attend conferences about poetry and spirituality.

Denise Levertov passed away on December 20, 1997, at the age of 74. She is buried in Lake View Cemetery in Seattle.

Poetry About Politics and War

Politics and war were big topics in Denise Levertov's poetry. She felt it was a poet's job to show the unfairness of the Vietnam War. She also took part in protests and read her poems at rallies.

Her 1971 book To Stay Alive included poems, letters, and diary entries about the Vietnam War. In her poems, she showed how individuals can make a difference. She believed that people's imagination could lead to change in society. She also connected personal experiences to the need for social fairness.

Suffering was another main theme in her war poems. She used strong images to describe the violence of the Vietnam War. She tried to mix the beauty of language with the terrible reality of war. Her poems often focused on the pain caused by war and the suffering of the Vietnamese people.

After many years of writing about war, Denise began to feel that beauty, poetry, and politics might not always go together. This led her to write more about religion later in her life.

Religious Influences in Her Poetry

Denise Levertov was influenced by religion from a young age. Her father's background in both Judaism and Christianity shaped her views. She believed her family roots were important to her writing.

When she moved to the United States, she was influenced by other poets and thinkers. However, her decision to become a Christian in 1984 was the biggest influence on her religious writing. She became a Roman Catholic in 1990.

In 1997, she put together 38 poems from her earlier books into a collection called The Stream & the Sapphire. She explained that this collection showed her slow journey from not believing in God to becoming a Christian. This journey included a lot of doubt and questions, as well as faith.

Exploring Religious Themes

Denise Levertov wrote many poems with religious themes. These poems used religious images and ideas. One important theme was her own spiritual journey towards understanding faith.

One of her earlier poems, "A Tree Telling of Orpheus," uses the idea of a tree growing and changing when it hears music. This is like how faith can grow and change a person. She often wrote about respecting nature and life in her religious poems. She also explored ideas of emptiness and what might be missing in life.

In her early religious poems, Denise searched for meaning. She explored how God relates to everything and nothing. Later, her poems showed a shift. Books like A Door in the Hive and Evening Train used images of cliffs and edges. These images suggested pushing for change in life. She also began to think that peace could be found in death. She started to believe that "nothingness" was also a part of God. Her later poems showed less worry and more acceptance.

In Evening Train, her poems became very religious. She wrote about experiencing God. She used a mountain as a symbol for life and God. She said that even when clouds cover a mountain, it is still there, huge and strong. God is the same, she believed. Even when He seems hidden, we know He is there. Her poems stopped questioning religion so much and started accepting it simply. In "The Tide," she wrote about accepting faith and realizing it's okay not to know all the answers. This acceptance marked the end of her spiritual journey.

Denise Levertov's strong religious writing began after she became a Christian in 1984. She used her poetry to share her religious views. She wrote about how Christianity could connect people and communities. In her later works, she explored how Christian values could change a difficult society.

Achievements and Awards

Denise Levertov wrote and published 24 books of poetry. She also wrote literary criticism and translated works from other languages. She edited several collections of poems by other writers.

She received many awards and honors for her work. These include the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Frost Medal, the Lenore Marshall Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

See also

In Spanish: Denise Levertov para niños