A Poet's Revolution

“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