Denise Levertov Quotes

United Kingdom, Poet
October 24, 1923 – December, 20, 1997.

Priscilla Denise Levertov was an American poet. She was a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry. 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.'

Grief is a hole you walk around in the daytime and at night you fall into it.

Denise Levertov
- Fall
- Grief
- Daytime
You have come to the shore. There are no instructions.

Denise Levertov
- Come
- Shore
- Instructions

A poet articulating the dreads and horrors of our time is necessary in order to make readers understand what is happening, really understand it, not just know about it but feel it: and should be accompanied by a willingness on the part of those who write it to take additional action towards stopping the great miseries which they record.

Denise Levertov
Marvelous Truth, confront us at every turn, in every guise.

Denise Levertov
- Confront
- Marvelous
- Guise
It's when we face for a moment the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know the taint in our own selves, that awe cracks the mind's shell and enters the heart.

Denise Levertov
- Heart
- Moment
- Selves
I believe every space and comma is a living part of the poem and has its function, just as every muscle and pore of the body has its function. And the way the lines are broken is a functioning part essential to the life of the poem.

Denise Levertov
- Way
- Space
- Body
Both art and faith are dependent on imagination; both are ventures into the unknown.

Denise Levertov
- Imagination
- Unknown
- Both
Nothing we do has the quickness, the sureness, the deep intelligence living at peace would have.

Denise Levertov

I'm not very good at praying, but what I experience when I'm writing a poem is close to prayer.

Denise Levertov
- Experience
- Praying
- Poem
Every day, every day I hear enough to fill a year of nights with wondering.

Denise Levertov
- Day
- Hear
- Nights