From Publishers Weekly
Back in print from New Directions are crucial texts from essential poets in two new volumes. Poems 1972-1982 collects Denise Levertov's The Freeing of Dust (1975), Life in the Forest (1978) and Candles in Babylon (1982). Levertov, who died in 1997 at 74, was one of the most eloquent critics of the war in Vietnam: "Each time around, fresh details,/ variations of place and weapon./ All night imagining murder." Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


Kenneth Rexroth, The New York Times
Denise Levertov is the most subtly skillful poet of her generation, the most profound, the most modest, the most moving.


Robert Hass, The Washington Post
[O]ne of the most defining poets of her generation....She will be missed sorely.


The Bloomsbury Review
Her poems bring joy to the ear and, by their transcendental shimmer, inspire a spiritual hunger.


Kirkus Reviews, 1 March 2001
An excellent representation of a major poet.


Book Description
Three of Denise Levertov's classic volumes, now available in a single edition. Here gathered for the first time in a single edition are three of Denise Levertov's finest books: The Freeing of the Dust (1975), Life in the Forest (1978), and Candles in Babylon (1982). This new compilation—beginning where Denise Levertov's Poems 1968-1972 left off—testifies not only to Levertov's technical mastery, but also to her spiritual vision, especially in regard to the Vietnam War. Some of Levertov's best war poems, the result of her visit to North Vietnam in 1972, are contained in this marvelous collection. Poems 1972-1982 enables readers to observe a crucial phase in Levertov's poetic development. At the same time, it illuminates Robert Creeley's assessment that she "was a constantly defining presence in the world we shared, a remarkable and transforming poet for all of us."


About the Author
Denise Levertov was born in London and educated at home. When she came to the US in 1948, Levertov was introduced to the American reading public with The New British Poets, an anthology edited by Kenneth Rexroth and published by ND. For years Levertov lived in Somerville, MA and was closely identified with the Boston area. She taught part of the year at Brandeis and the other part at Stanford, CA. In 1992 Denise Levertov moved to Seattle, WA. Besides the Elmer Holmes Bobst Award in poetry and the Lannan Prize, she won the 1996 Governor's Writers Award, from the Washington State Commission for the Humanities. She died of lymphoma on December 20, 1997, in Seattle, WA.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Here are three of Denise Levertov's finest books: The Freeing of the Dust (1975), Life in the Forest (1978), and Candles in Babylon (1982). This new compilation - beginning where Denise Levertov's Poems 1968-1972 left off - testifies not only to Levertov's technical mastery, but also to her spiritual vision. Some of Levertov's best war poems, the result of her visit to North Vietnam in 1972, are contained in this collection. Poems 1972-1982 enables readers to observe a crucial phase in Levertov's poetic development."--BOOK JACKET.

FROM THE CRITICS

Robert Hass

[O]ne of the most defining poets of her generation....She will be missed sorely. —Washington Post

Kenneth Rexroth

Denise Levertov is the most subtly skillful poet of her generation, the most profound, the most modest, the most moving. —New York Times

Bloomsbury Review

Her poems bring joy to the ear and, by their transcendental shimmer, inspire a spiritual hunger.

Book Magazine - Stephen Whited

Levertov's death in 1997 ended nearly sixty years of devotion to poetry. This book contains three volumes from her turbulent and politically charged middle years: The Freeing of the Dust (1975), Life in the Forest (1978) and Candles in Babylon (1982). Darkly psychological, always reverential, her work is profoundly informed by the rhythms of William Carlos Williams and the spiritual profundity of Gerard Manley Hopkins. In some of these poems, her outrage over the Vietnam conflict is expressed with intense political righteousness, and the ideology du jour often overrides the poetic experience. Nonetheless, Levertov possessed an extraordinary gift for finding what she called "the inherent music of experience." The writer found her distinctive voice early, and genius seldom abandoned her.

Publishers Weekly