Comments on: Levertov’s This Great Unknowing: Last Poems

By: loren

loren — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:18:45 +0000

Here’s a link to the poem kjm mentions above:

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Denise-Levertov/15411

By: mike

mike — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:01:11 +0000

This levertov piece is among the best I’ve seen; an off-handed conversational tone that is a commentary on itself (language) as a distinct way to remake her point about how we talk about God/how he talks to us. (Lower case intended) I see parallels in Hopkins —who suggests we find him in all things counter, original, spare, strange. Whitman (the grass on graves) and in the very old idea that we call God forth through cabalistic mutterings, the right sequence of syllables. Lincoln: ‘far beyond our poor power to add or detract…’ For Levertov, who can be inaccessible because of her spare, spaced lines, this is almost reverential and in a syntax I suspect is ordered on purpose, perhaps even ironically? As a spiritual statement, “numb thunder” is wonderful, a compressed way of showing us what the whole poem is saying.

By: Brian Salchert

Brian Salchert — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:07:30 +0000

Google schmoogle — it doesn’t stop me from
spending time with a long article or interview.
The human mind is more than the Google guys
“think” it is. I “love” Google, but oftentimes
it frustrates me. Nonetheless, I put up with it,
and learn how to, for instance, refine my searches.

By: The Solitary Walker

The Solitary Walker — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:56:03 +0000

I too like Levertov. And, yes, it’s sometimes difficult to say why. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on her poetry and generally agree with them. I found that her ‘New & Collected Essays’, also published by New Directions, was a huge help. It’s a valuable insight into her poetic preferences and into how she approaches writing. In fact I like many of these essays as much as I like some of her poems. I think her poetic oeuvre is to be taken as a whole – rather than being sought out for the memorableness or uniqueness of an individual poem. The interest for me is accompanying her as a fellow questing traveller through the collections as she explores, tentatively and sincerely, politics, mysticism etc.