Janet Krauss Discusses the Poetry of Denise Levertov (Zoom)

Please join us online on Tuesday, November 12, at 10:30 a.m., when Janet Krauss will lead a discussion of a selection of poems by Denise Levertov. Links to the poems and discussion questions will be emailed in advance of the program. 

There is no charge for this program. Advance registration is required as is an email address. Register online to receive the Zoom session invitation link. 

It has been said that Denise Levertov's poems reveal "a clear, uncluttered voice committed to acute observation and engagement with the earthly in all its attendant beauty, mystery and pain." Her poems become darker in the 60's due to personal loss and as an anti-Vietnam war activist.

Denise was born in Essex, England and came to America after WWII. She was born in 1923 and died in 1997. She and her sister were home schooled by their Welsh mother. Her mother specialized in teaching her daughters the classics of English literature. The father, Paul Philip Levertov, provided their religious training. He was a Russian Jew who converted to Christianity and became an Anglican minister. Denise was endowed with a rich heritage.

Denise's confidence as a poet was strengthened when T.S. Eliot responded with a two page letter to a poem she sent to him. He praised her work and gave her "excellent advice." Thus, she persevered, writing all the time as she served as a civilian nurse in London during the war. In America, she was widely recognized as a poet, professor and essayist. We will explore her love of nature, outpouring of loss, use of Greek myth, reaching out to the poor, and anger against war.

Janet Krauss, who has two books of poetry published, “Borrowed Scenery,” Yuganta Press, and “Through the Trees of Autumn,” Spartina Press, has recently retired from teaching English at Fairfield University.