What do you think?
Rate this book
Making Peace: Poetry
Anti-war poems by Denise Levertov, a passionate advocate of peace and justice and one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century.
Denise Levertov achieved recognition as a poet at a young age, winning the admiration of such older poets as T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams. Though she initially drew a line between her poetic works and her commitment to peace and justice, the Vietnam War inspired a change, and at the time of her death in 1997, she was acclaimed not only for her poetry, but also for her political engagement. Making Peace collects Levertov's finest poems about war and peace, subjects which she addresses with passion and nuance. Spanning the last three decades of her life, their subjects range from Vietnam to the death-squads of El Salvador to the first Gulf War. Often brutally vividin "The Certainty" she writes, "war / means blood spilling from living bodies"Levertov's poems always have at their core her love for humanity, even as she registers her horror at what humans do to one another.
Introduced by Levertov scholar Peggy Rosenthal, these poems mirror the destruction that we witness today, but they also hold within them, as Levertov writes, "a small grain of hope."
Denise Levertov achieved recognition as a poet at a young age, winning the admiration of such older poets as T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams. Though she initially drew a line between her poetic works and her commitment to peace and justice, the Vietnam War inspired a change, and at the time of her death in 1997, she was acclaimed not only for her poetry, but also for her political engagement. Making Peace collects Levertov's finest poems about war and peace, subjects which she addresses with passion and nuance. Spanning the last three decades of her life, their subjects range from Vietnam to the death-squads of El Salvador to the first Gulf War. Often brutally vividin "The Certainty" she writes, "war / means blood spilling from living bodies"Levertov's poems always have at their core her love for humanity, even as she registers her horror at what humans do to one another.
Introduced by Levertov scholar Peggy Rosenthal, these poems mirror the destruction that we witness today, but they also hold within them, as Levertov writes, "a small grain of hope."
- GenresPoetry
64 pages, Paperback
First published February 24, 2006
1 person is currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Denise Levertov
198 books170 followersAmerican poet Denise Levertov was born in Ilford, Essex, England. Her mother, Beatrice Spooner-Jones Levertoff, was Welsh. Her father, Paul Levertoff, from Germany migrated to England as a Russian Hassidic Jew, who, after converting to Christianity, became an Anglican parson. At the age of 12, she sent some of her poems to T. S. Eliot, who replied with a two-page letter of encouragement. In 1940, when she was 17, Levertov published her first poem.
During the Blitz, Levertov served in London as a civilian nurse. Her first book, The Double Image, was published six years later. In 1947 she married American writer Mitchell Goodman and moved with him to the United States in the following year. Although Levertov and Goodman would eventually divorce, they had a son, Nickolai, and lived mainly in New York City, summering in Maine. In 1955, she became a naturalized American citizen.
During the 1960s and 70s, Levertov became much more politically active in her life and work. As poetry editor for The Nation, she was able to support and publish the work of feminist and other leftist activist poets. The Vietnam War was an especially important focus of her poetry, which often tried to weave together the personal and political, as in her poem "The Sorrow Dance," which speaks of her sister's death. Also in response to the Vietnam War, Levertov joined the War Resister’s League.
Much of the latter part of Levertov’s life was spent in education. After moving to Massachusetts, Levertov taught at Brandeis University, MIT and Tufts University. On the West Coast, she had a part-time teaching stint at the University of Washington and for 11 years (1982-1993) held a full professorship at Stanford University. In 1984 she received a Litt. D. from Bates College. After retiring from teaching, she traveled for a year doing poetry readings in the U.S. and England.
In 1997, Denise Levertov died at the age of 74 from complications due to lymphoma. She was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.
Levertov wrote and published 20 books of poetry, criticism, translations. She also edited several anthologies. Among her many awards and honors, she received the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Frost Medal, the Lenore Marshall Prize, the Lannan Award, a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
During the Blitz, Levertov served in London as a civilian nurse. Her first book, The Double Image, was published six years later. In 1947 she married American writer Mitchell Goodman and moved with him to the United States in the following year. Although Levertov and Goodman would eventually divorce, they had a son, Nickolai, and lived mainly in New York City, summering in Maine. In 1955, she became a naturalized American citizen.
During the 1960s and 70s, Levertov became much more politically active in her life and work. As poetry editor for The Nation, she was able to support and publish the work of feminist and other leftist activist poets. The Vietnam War was an especially important focus of her poetry, which often tried to weave together the personal and political, as in her poem "The Sorrow Dance," which speaks of her sister's death. Also in response to the Vietnam War, Levertov joined the War Resister’s League.
Much of the latter part of Levertov’s life was spent in education. After moving to Massachusetts, Levertov taught at Brandeis University, MIT and Tufts University. On the West Coast, she had a part-time teaching stint at the University of Washington and for 11 years (1982-1993) held a full professorship at Stanford University. In 1984 she received a Litt. D. from Bates College. After retiring from teaching, she traveled for a year doing poetry readings in the U.S. and England.
In 1997, Denise Levertov died at the age of 74 from complications due to lymphoma. She was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle, Washington.
Levertov wrote and published 20 books of poetry, criticism, translations. She also edited several anthologies. Among her many awards and honors, she received the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Frost Medal, the Lenore Marshall Prize, the Lannan Award, a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 12, 2019
Wow, very moving and powerful.
August 3, 2022
starting august 22 Sealey challenge with some real hard-hitters. beautiful, tender, terrible poems from all-time legend Denise Levertov.
May 9, 2016
On my birthday, I got to visit John K. King in downtown Detroit, my favorite used bookstore ever, and I spent most of my time (and money) in the poetry section. I'm just starting to like poetry, but I'm not really sure what I like yet so I tried to get a little taste of everything. Making Peace was small enough that I thought it would make a good edition.
This collection of Denise Levertov's deals exclusively with war, political activism, and the effect writing has on both of those things. Levertov's writing was best in poems like What Were They Like? , Writing in the Dark, and For the New Year, 1981. The best of her work is that with no embellishment. Her prose is simple but honest, and you feel that the poet expressing these convictions is completely certain in them.
What Were They Like? examines how we view our enemies during times of war, how we dehumanize them into some kind of other. It is addressing Vietnam specifically, but it could be applied to any of the people we have been at war with. Replace Vietnam with Iraq and Iran, and this poem could have been written yesterday.
"1) Did the people of Vietnam
use lanterns of stone?
...
1) Sir, their light hearts turned to stone.
It is not remembered whether in gardens
stone lanterns illumined pleasant ways."
Writing in the Dark emphasizes the importance of writing and the power it has. Levertov believes that the pen is not just a writing utensil but a weapon to be yielded against injustice or to help heal wounds. It is an idealistic idea, that writing can have the power to change the world, but it is an idea I don't mind believing in. Writing, leaving a record of what has happened, is possibly the most important thing a person can do.
"Keep writing in the dark:
a record of the night, or
words that pulled you from deaths unknowing,
words that flew through your mind, strange birds
crying their urgency with human voices,
or opened
as flowers of a tree that blooms
only once in a lifetime:
words that may have the power
to make the sun rise again."
For the New Year, 1981 is centered around the idea that hope can only be maintained if it is spread. If I have hope, I have to give some away so I can maintain mine. This is how, Leverton writes, hope can grow. This poem is one of the more positive ones in the collection, and it is a beautiful thought. I just hope she is right.
"Only so, by division,
will hope increase,
like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower
unless you distribute
the clustered roots, unlikely source-
clumsy and earth-covered-
of grace."
Overall, I liked Denise Leverton's poems and will have to read some of her other work, but I wished there had been more to this collection. Recommended to anyone interested in poetry and activism.
This collection of Denise Levertov's deals exclusively with war, political activism, and the effect writing has on both of those things. Levertov's writing was best in poems like What Were They Like? , Writing in the Dark, and For the New Year, 1981. The best of her work is that with no embellishment. Her prose is simple but honest, and you feel that the poet expressing these convictions is completely certain in them.
What Were They Like? examines how we view our enemies during times of war, how we dehumanize them into some kind of other. It is addressing Vietnam specifically, but it could be applied to any of the people we have been at war with. Replace Vietnam with Iraq and Iran, and this poem could have been written yesterday.
"1) Did the people of Vietnam
use lanterns of stone?
...
1) Sir, their light hearts turned to stone.
It is not remembered whether in gardens
stone lanterns illumined pleasant ways."
Writing in the Dark emphasizes the importance of writing and the power it has. Levertov believes that the pen is not just a writing utensil but a weapon to be yielded against injustice or to help heal wounds. It is an idealistic idea, that writing can have the power to change the world, but it is an idea I don't mind believing in. Writing, leaving a record of what has happened, is possibly the most important thing a person can do.
"Keep writing in the dark:
a record of the night, or
words that pulled you from deaths unknowing,
words that flew through your mind, strange birds
crying their urgency with human voices,
or opened
as flowers of a tree that blooms
only once in a lifetime:
words that may have the power
to make the sun rise again."
For the New Year, 1981 is centered around the idea that hope can only be maintained if it is spread. If I have hope, I have to give some away so I can maintain mine. This is how, Leverton writes, hope can grow. This poem is one of the more positive ones in the collection, and it is a beautiful thought. I just hope she is right.
"Only so, by division,
will hope increase,
like a clump of irises, which will cease to flower
unless you distribute
the clustered roots, unlikely source-
clumsy and earth-covered-
of grace."
Overall, I liked Denise Leverton's poems and will have to read some of her other work, but I wished there had been more to this collection. Recommended to anyone interested in poetry and activism.
February 3, 2024
Powerful and unflinching poems from the 1970's and '80's about war and its impact on individuals and society. There are poems about Viet Nam, El Salvador and the first Gulf War, about the Eichman trial, atrocities and terror, anti-nuclear protest. But Levertov does not leave us without hope that someday peace might be possible.
A line of peace might appear
If we restructured the sentence our lives our making,
revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses ...
A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war.
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world...
A line of peace might appear
If we restructured the sentence our lives our making,
revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses ...
A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war.
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world...
September 13, 2008
"A poetry 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 a poetry of praise is equally necessary, that we not be overcome by despair but have the constant incentive of envisioned positive possibility--and because praise is an irresistible impulse of the soul."
--Denise Levertov
The poems about Vietnam, Iraq, and El Salvador were her strongest poems, I think. Other great poems were "Writing in the Dark" and "Advent 1966," both dealing with the difficulties the poet faces when trying to write political poetry.
--Denise Levertov
The poems about Vietnam, Iraq, and El Salvador were her strongest poems, I think. Other great poems were "Writing in the Dark" and "Advent 1966," both dealing with the difficulties the poet faces when trying to write political poetry.
June 14, 2007
Apparently she has good poetry? It's not in this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews