Denise Levertov quotes

Denise Levertov was a British-born American poet known for her lyrical and politically engaged writing. Her work explored themes such as nature, spirituality, and social justice. She became an influential voice in 20th-century poetry and inspired generations of writers. Here are 30 of her quotes:

I like to find what's not found at once, but lies within something of another nature, in repose, distinct. (Denise Levertov)
Rain-diamonds, this winter morning, embellish the tangle of unpruned pear-tree twigs; each solitaire, placed, it appears, with considered judgement, bears the light beneath the rifted clouds - the invisible shared out in endless abundance. View quote
Denise Levertov
There's in my mind a... turbulent moon-ridden girl or old woman, or both, dressed in opals and rags, feathers and torn taffeta, who knows strange songs but she is not kind. View quote
Denise Levertov
The world is not with us enough. O taste and see. View quote
Denise Levertov
Praise the invisible sun burning beyond the white cold sky, giving us light and the chimney's shadow. View quote
Denise Levertov
You have come to the shore. There are no instructions. View quote
Denise Levertov
Marvelous Truth, confront us at every turn, in every guise. View quote
Denise Levertov
pure dust that is all in all. Bless, weightless Spirit. Drink Caliban, push your tongue heavy into the calyx. View quote
Denise Levertov
I am not joking. I'm speaking of spirit. Not dogma but spirit. The Way. View quote
Denise Levertov
I am tired of 'the fine art of unhappiness. View quote
Denise Levertov
I like the juicy stem of grass that grows within the coarser leaf folded round, and the butteryellow glowin the narrow flute from which the morning-glory opens blue and cool on a hot morning. (Denise Levertov)
Let Ariel learn a blessing for Caliban and Caliban drink dew from the lotus open upon the waters. View quote
Denise Levertov
He himself must be the key, now, to the next door, the next terrors of freedom and joy. View quote
Denise Levertov
Down through the tomb's inward arch He has shouldered out into Limbo to gather them, dazed, from dreamless slumber... View quote
Denise Levertov
Didmas, neighbor in death, Golgotha dust still streaked on the dried sweat of his body no one had washed and anointed, is here, for sequence is not known in Limbo; the promise, given from cross to cross at noon, arches beyond sunset and dawn. View quote
Denise Levertov
Lord, not you, it is I who am absent. View quote
Denise Levertov
Two girls discover the secret of life in a sudden line of poetry.I who don't know the secret wrote the line. View quote
Denise Levertov
I was the first to see him, for I grew out on the pasture slope, beyond the forest. He was a man, it seemed. . . View quote
Denise Levertov
It is said he made his earth-journey, and lost what he sought. It is said they felled him and cut up his limbs for firewood. And it is said his head still sang and was swept out to sea singing. View quote
Denise Levertov
To me it seems perhaps Kropotkin understood half of what we need to know, and Lenin perhaps knew half, and true revolution ... true revolution must put these two halves together? View quote
Denise Levertov
To serve the people, one must write for the ideal reader. Only for the ideal reader. And who or what is that ideal reader? God. One must imagine, One must deeply imagine. (Denise Levertov)
The poet never must lose despair. View quote
Denise Levertov
all of us know he means we mustn't, any of us, lose touch with the source, pretend it's not there, cover over the mineshaft of passion. View quote
Denise Levertov
And not till he saw the angel had left him, alone and free to resume the ecstatic, dangerous, wearisome roads of what he had still to do, not till then did he recognize this was no dream. View quote
Denise Levertov
Not for one second will my self hold still, but wanders anywhere, everywhere it can turn. Not you, it is I am absent. View quote
Denise Levertov

Denise Levertov

Denise Levertov - Image
Photo: Wikimedia commons, CC BY-SA 2.5
Occupation: Poet
Born: October 24, 1923
Died: December 20, 1997
Quotes count: 30
Wikipedia: Denise Levertov

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