The Letters of Denise Levertov & William Carlos Williams

by Denise Levertov, Christopher MacGowan, William Carlos Williams

The Letters of Denise Levertov and William Carlos Williams  is the most engaging and lively of literary correspondences – at once a portrait of two geniuses the testimony of their remarkable friendship, and a seedbed of ideas about American poetry. With a 1951 fan letter, the young British poet introduced herself to Williams, and by 1959, Williams is congratulating Levertov on her “this book challenge[s] me so that I am glad I am not younger…. You have not always written so excellently…. I am going to read these first half-dozen poems – maybe more – until as an old man I have penetrated to where your secret is hid.” The letters also chronicle their search (individually and together) for a set of formal poetic principles, a search which culminated for Levertov in 1965, when she coined the term “organic form.” The warmth, the directness, the flavorsome individuality of the letters – 34 from Levertov and 42 from Williams – increased with their growing intimacy and mutual regard. Always intriguing, their independent-minded letters, which end with the elder poet’s death in 1962, have great piquancy and charm. Denise Levertov herself initiated this project, and was then, in the year before her death, “fascinated to read the exchange.” This edition also includes the correspondence between Levertov and Williams’s widow Florence. Professor Christopher MacGowan, the noted Williams scholar, contributes a superb introduction and informative annotations throughout.

Genres: Poetry

163 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

American 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.

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the intimacy of these letters and watching the friendship grow between these two poets.

[Robert Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are several other prized published letter exchanges between two poets of great interest but none I bet at this level of courtesy, sympathy, fecundity of imaginative force, attractive friendship and support. And someday literary historians may finally canonize WC Williams as the great American poet of the last century compared to Eliot or Pound or Stevens.

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has certainly been a journey to learn so much about Williams.