Breathing the Water - Softcover

Denise Levertov

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852240512 ISBN 13: 9781852240516

Publisher: Newcastle upon Tyne, Bloodaxe, 1988., 1988

Synopsis

Levertov, Denise. Breathing the Water. First Edition. Newcastle upon Tyne, Bloodaxe, 1988. Octavo. 79 pages. Original Softcover. Near Fine condition with slight foxing to the edges and minor staining. This copy includes a letter loosely inserted from Levertov to editor of poetry magazine The Shop, John Wakeman, the letter is dated June 24th, 1986. Levertov was born and grew up in Ilford, London. Her mother, Beatrice Adelaide (née Spooner-Jones) Levertoff, came from a small mining village in North Wales. Her father, Paul Levertoff, had been a teacher at Leipzig University and as a Russian Hassidic Jew was held under house arrest during the First World War as an 'enemy alien' by virtue of his ethnicity. He emigrated to the UK and became an Anglican priest after converting to Christianity. In the mistaken belief that he would want to preach in a Jewish neighbourhood, he was housed in Ilford, within reach of a parish in Shoreditch, in East London. Levertov, who was educated at home, showed an enthusiasm for writing from an early age and studied ballet, art, piano and French as well as standard subjects. She wrote about the strangeness she felt growing up part Jewish, German, Welsh and English, but not fully belonging to any of these identities. Both politics and war are major themes in Levertov's poetry. Levertov was published in the Black Mountain Review during the 1950s, but denied any formal relations with the group. She began to develop her own lyrical style of poetry through those influences. (Wikipedia).

About this title

About the Author

Denise Levertov (1923-1997) was a British born American poet. She wrote and published 20 books of poetry, criticism, translations. She also edited several anthologies. Among her many awards and honors, she received the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Frost Medal, the Lenore Marshall Prize, the Lannan Award, a grant from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Review

The Absentee
Athanor
August Daybreak
A Blessing
Caedmon
Candlemas
Captive Flower
Carapace
Ceremonies
The Day Longs For The Evening
A Doorkey For Cordova
During A Son's Dangerous Illness
Embrasure
Every Day
From The Image-flow - Death Of Chausson, 1899
From The Image-flow - South Africa 1986
From The Image-flow - Summer Of 1986
Girls
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, Wanders Again
Hunting The Phoenix
I Learned That Her Name Was Proverb
In Memory: After A Friend's Sudden Death
In Praise Of Allium
La Cordelle
The Last Heavy Fairytale, In Which One Lays One's Heart ...
Making Peace
Missing Beatrice
The Mockingbird Of Mockingbirds
The Myriad Past, It Enters Us And Disappears ...
On A Theme From Julian's Chapter Xx
Poet Power
The Sea's Repeated Gesture
The Servant-girl At Emmaus (a Painting By Velazquez)
She Wept And The Women Consoled Her
The Showings: Lady Julian Of Norwich, 1342-1416
The Spirits Appeased
The Spy
Standoff
The Stricken Children
To Olga
To One Steeped In Bitterness
Urgent Whisper
Variation And Reflection On A Theme By Rilke
Variation On A Theme By Rilke
Variation On A Theme By Rilke (the Book Of Hours, Bk I, 1)
Wavering
The Well
Window-blind
Zeroing In
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

About this edition

• Publisher: Newcastle upon Tyne, Bloodaxe, 1988.
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 1852240512
• ISBN 13: 9781852240516
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96