Citation

Levertov, Denise. “A Testament and a Postscript 1959–1973.” The Poet in the World, by Denise Levertov, W W Norton & Co Inc, 1973, pp. 3–6.

Quotes

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Collations

The spiritual writer has two works: To see clearly and to communicate what he has seen clearly.

it is given to the seer to see, but it is then his responsibility to communicate what he sees, that they who cannot see may see, since we are "members one of another."

This is quite similar to the principle of bagay poets. To move away from excessive unintelligibility of the avant garde to consider the capacity of the masses to understand a piece.

All parts of form has function

I believe every space and comma is a living part of the poem and has its function

the way the lines are broken is a functioning part essential to the poem's life.

Content determines form

I believe content determines form, and yet that content is discovered only in form.

This is the heritage of Robert Creeley.

Form should not obtrude the essential force of a poem

The revelation of form itself can be a deep joy; yet I think form as means should never obtrude, whether from intention or carelessness, between the reader and the essential force of the poem, it must be so fused with that force.

Levertov desires poems with an inner harmony

I do not believe that a violent imitation of the horrors of our times is the concern of poetry.

I long for poems of an inner harmony in utter contrast to the chaos in which they exist. Insofar as poetry has a social function it is to awaken sleepers by other means than shock.

all of these-including Howl-are intricately structured, not chaotic. The force is there, and the horror, but they are there precisely because these are works of art, not self-indulgent spittle-dribblings. They have the "inner harmony" that is a contrast to the confusion round about them.

For Levertov, Ginsberg's work isn't careless even when it draws from the let it all flow method that he took from Kerouac and Rinpoche. There is an internal harmony, she said, in Ginsberg work. This merits a deeper study of Ginsberg as a middle way between intense inner harmony and vomit-it-all-out poetry.

Levertov's favorite poets

I think of Robert Duncan and Robert Creeley as the chief poets among my contemporaries.

Levertov disliked "vomit-it-all-out" poetry

I have always strongly admired Allen's own poetry, and have often said so publicly and defended him fiercely against his detractors; but I didn't like the sloppy garbage that seemed in 1959 to be suddenly appearing everywhere in his wake.

I felt that the "vomit-it-all-out" concept of writing was totally alien to my belief in the poet as both "maker" and "instrument," and of poetry (not poets) as a power, something held in sacred trust.

the poems against which I was reacting were not dealing with these matters either: they simply seemed, in their formlessness, their lack of care for the language, for delving deep, for precision, to be imitating the chaos surrounding them.

Levertov disliked form that shocked

The kind of "shock" I was rejecting consisted, for instance, of the use of giant capital letters to scream like headlines in places where I felt a well-made poem would naturally carry the voice into due emphases without, except on very rare occasions, the use of outsize type faces. Also by shock I meant the invention of sadistic images (as if competitively!) when life already presented so many real instances of pain and cruelty. These are matters of craft and art, not restrictions on the suitability of subject matter.

Per Levertov, awakening sleepers is the social function of poetry

I was deploring shock as an end in itself, while espousing the act of "awakening sleepers" as a goal (not the goal) proper to poetry. Today I would stand by the concept, still, that poetry's social function is such an act; but rather than stopping to question whether it has a social function at all, I would take it as obvious that it has, while qualifying that function as not being a primary goal.

The poem has a social effect of some kind whether or not the poet wills that it have. It has kinetic force, it sets in motion (if it really is a poem, not something else masquerading as one) elements in the reader that otherwise would be stagnant. And that movement, that coming into play of the otherwise dormant or stagnant element, however small, cannot be without importance if one conceives of the human being as one in which all the parts are so related that none completely fulfills its function unless all are active.

Literature notes

Levertov may not be knowledgeable of the poetry of the world and indigenous poetry, which are closer to what she calls vomit it all out poetry. Ginsberg was more sensitive to that kind of poetry and yet, per Levertov's assumption, his poems have maintained an inner harmony.

Prompts

Per Levertov, what are the two works of a seer? :: To see and to communicate what he sees clearly to the larger society one is part of that hasn't seen.

How is Levertov's belief in the work of a seer similar to the poetics of Bagay poets? :: Both advocate intelligibility to communicate with the masses.

Per Levertov, form should not obtrude the essential force of a poem.

Per Levertov, why is Howl not vomit-it-all-out poetry? :: It has an "inner harmony."

Why does Ginsberg merit a serious study for anyone learning a spiritual writing poetics? :: He represents the middle ground between Levertov's inner harmony and flow unrevised writing.

Levertov's chief poets among her contemporaries. :: Robert Duncan and Robery Creeley

Why does Levertov dislike vomit-it-all-out poetry? :: She believs that a poet is not just an instrument but also a maker.

Per Levertov, what was poetry's social function? :: To awaken sleepers.

Per Levertov, how does a poet manifests a poem's social function? :: The poet doesn't. It happens whether or not the poet wills it.

Per Levertov, how does a poem awaken sleepers? :: A poem moves elements in a reader that would otherwise be stagnant.