This first full-length biography of Anglo- American poet and activist Denise Levertov (1923-1997) brings to life one of the major voices of the second half of the twentieth century, when American poetry was a powerful influence worldwide. Drawing on exhaustive archival research and interviews with 75 friends of Levertov, as well as on Levertov’s entire opus, Donna Krolik Hollenberg’s authoritative biography captures the full complexity of Levertov as both woman and artist, and the dynamic world she inhabited. She charts Levertov’s early life in England as the daughter of a Russian Hasidic father and a Welsh mother, her experience as a nurse in London during WWII, her marriage to an American after the war, and her move to New York City where she became a major figure in the American poetry scene. The author chronicles Levertov’s role as a passionate social activist in volatile times and her importance as a teacher of writing. Finally, Hollenberg shows how the spiritual dimension of Levertov’s poetry deepened toward the end of her life, so that her final volumes link lyric perception with political and religious commitment.

About the Author

Donna Hollenberg is a Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. She is the author of H.D.: The Poetics of Childbirth and Creativity and the editor of Between History and Poetry: The Letters of H.D. and Norman Holmes Pearson and HD and Poets After.

Acknowledgements
Prologue

PART ONE. LISTENING TO DISTANT GUNS (1923–1948)
1. “The Walls of the Garden, the First Light”: Beginnings (1923–1933)
2. “When Anna Screamed”: Levertov’s Response to Nazi Oppression (1933–1939)
3. The Double Image: Apprenticeship during World War II (1939–1946)
4. “Recoveries”: Abortion, Adventure, and Marriage (1947–1948)

PART TWO. A COMMON GROUND (1949–1966)
5. “Dancing Edgeways”: Coming of Age as a Poet in the New World (1949–1955)
6. “The True Artist”: Levertov’s Engagement with Tradition (1954–1960)
7. “The Poem Ascends”: Taking a Postion (1960–1963)
8. “To Speak of Sorrow”: Levertov’s Emergence as a Social Poet (1963–1966)

PART THREE. LIFE AT WAR (1966–1974)
9. “Revolution or Death”: Living in the Movement (1966–1970)
10. “The Freeing of the Dust”: The Revolution Hits Home (1970–1974)

PART FOUR. SLEEPERS AWAKE (1975–1988)
11. “A Woman Alone”: Beginning Again (1975–1981)
12. “The Task”: Social Protest and Liberation Theology (1982–1988)

PART FIVE. RESETTLING (1989–1997)
13. “Of Shadow and Flame”: The Re-cognition of Identity (1989–1992)
14: “Beauty Growls from the Fertile Dark”: Facing Death (1992–1997)

Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgment of Permissions
Index

Reviews

"A beautifully written, impeccably researched biography of a great activist poet whom Kenneth Rexroth called the 'most profound, the most modest, and most moving.'"
— Shelf Awareness

"Levertov's life is intrinsically interesting; stubbornly individualistic, she subscribed to no particular school of poetry. . . . Her influence remains pervasive."
— Times Literary Supplement

"Like a good teacher, a good biographer opens doors or shows us new things in rooms to which we thought we already had access. . . . “A Poet’s Revolution” turns the many faces of Denise Levertov’s poetry to the light. It’s a weighty volume, worth every ounce."
— Seattle Times

"Ladies and gentlemen: the poet is in the world. In more ways than one, now that this new biography of Denise Levertov (author of The Poet in the World) has hit the scene."
— Poetry Foundation's Harriet Blog

The book offers "much more detail on the poet’s personal relationships and reads her poetry in greater depth and with greater sympa- thy for her sometimes radical views."
— CHRISTIAN CENTURY

"Impressive scope."
— Resources for American Literary Study

"A Poet’s Revolution is the fullest account to date of key movements in Levertov’s life and art: her development as a poet from World War II to the Vietnam War to the political conflicts of the 1980s and 1990s. Hollenberg deftly moves between biographical and historical context and detailed close reading, refracting Levertov’s vast body of work"
— Against the Current

“Donna Hollenberg's long-awaited biography of Denise Levertov illuminates for us the mind and career of a poet who embodied the passionate idealism and the ideological tensions of America's last half-century. Hollenberg's work chronicles the poet's struggles with family, with other poets and with herself--with scrupulous and sometimes heartbreaking intimacy, revealing but never over-explaining the connections between Levertov's life and the beauty and subtlety of her writing.”—Alicia Ostriker, author of The Crack in Everything

"[Hollenberg's] account of the evolution of Levertov’s ‘revolution,’ the path of her poetic and political ‘pilgrimage,’ is informed and thorough, sympathetic but balanced. This is a book that fills a real need and will be a benchmark in our understanding of this poet and her place in American letters."—Albert Gelpi, Coe Professor of American Literature, emeritus, Stanford University

"This deeply researched and beautifully written biography provides a fascinating portrait of a major poet and her worlds. The book is indispensable for anyone interested in postwar American poetry in the Pound-Williams line. But Levertov's story is not only about the growth of a poet's mind. We follow her through the drama of twentieth century history and cultural change as she calls us not only to 'taste and see' but to protest and revolt."—Bonnie Costello, author of Planets on Tables: Poetry, Still Life and the Turning World

About the Book

About the Author

Table of Contents

Reviews