All Denise Levertov Quotes
- The world is not with us enough. O taste and see. Inspirational
- I like to find what's not found at once, but lies within something of another nature, in repose, distinct. Another Nature
- Insofar as poetry has a social function it is to awaken sleepers by other means than shock. Awaken
- I don't think one can accurately measure the historical effectiveness of a poem; but one does know, of course, that books influence individuals; and individuals,… Accurately
- Two girls discover the secret of life in a sudden line of poetry. Discover
- Days pass when I forget the mystery. Problems insoluble and problems offering their own ignored solutions jostle for my attention, they crowd its antechamber along… All
- You have come to the shore. There are no instructions. Inspirational
- In the dark I rest, unready for the light which dawns day after day, eager to be shared. Black silk, shelter me. I need more… All
- Yes, he is here in this open field, in sunlight, among the few young trees set out to modify the bare facts-- he's here, but… Alone
- The poem has a social effect of some kind whether or not the poet wills it to have. It has a kenetic force, it sets… Effect
- There comes a time when only anger is love. Anger
- 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… Both
- But for us the road unfurls itself, we don't stop walking, we know there is far to go. Far
- It's when we face for a moment the worst our kind can do, and shudder to know the taint in our own selves, that awe… Awe
- I thought I was growing wings— it was a cocoon. I thought, now is the time to step into the fire— it was deep water.… Child
- Wear scarlet! Tear the green lemons off the tree! I don't want to forget who I am, what has burned in me, and hang limp… Burned
- Peace as a positive condition of society, not merely as an interim between wars, is something so unknown that it casts no images on the… Casts
- By noon the whole city in all its corruption, all its shed blood the monsoon cannot wash away, has become a temple, fragile, insolent, absolute. Absolute
- Their red cloaks wrapped tight to the bone Bone
- A changing skyline. A slice of window filled in by a middle-distancing oblong topped by little moving figures. Changing
- I see him across the street, the blind man, and now he says he can find his way. He knows where he is going, it… Across
- On the kitchen wall a flash of shadow: swift pilgr image of pigeons, a spiral celebration of air, of sky-deserts. Air
- This wild night, gathering the washing as if it were flowers animal vines twisting over theline and slapping my face lightly, soundless merriment in the… Animal
- But not luck brought us here. By design clear air and cold wind polish the river lights, by design we are to live now in… Air
- A sense of the present rises out of earth and grass, enters the feet, ascends into the genitals, constricting the breast.... Ascends