At last in a single volume: the breadth and depth of Denise Levertov's poetic achievements. Culled from two dozen poetry books, and drawing from six decades of her writing life, The Selected Poems of Denise Levertov offers a chronological overview of her great body of work. It is splendid and impressive to have at last a clear, unobstructed view of her groundbreaking poetry—the work of a poet who, as Kenneth Rexroth put it, "more than anyone, led the redirection of American poetry...to the mainstream of world literature." Described by Publishers Weekly as "at once as intimate as Creeley and as visionary as Duncan," Levertov was lauded as "one of the indispensable poets of our language, one of those few writers to whom it is necessary to pay attention" by The Malahat Review. No poet is more overdue for a single accessible volume; no career could be better to have within easy reach. As a child, Denise Levertov (1923-1997) sent her poems to T. S. Eliot, who admired and encouraged her. Born in England and educated at home, she emigrated to the United States in 1948, and became one of the most important American poets of the second half of the 20th century. Levertov - who won the Robert Frost Medal, the Shelley Memorial Award, and the Lannan Prize—was also a staunch anti-war activist and environmentalist. "One of the essential poets of our time" (Poetry Flash), Denise Levertov was an inspiration to generations of writers.

She was a constantly defining presence in the world we shared, a remarkable and transforming poet for all of us. (Robert Creeley)

Levertov's mastery...of contemporary poetic form, informed with a fierce, generous intelligence can be frightening. (Ursula Le Guin, Washington Post)

Levertov's gift for detail is matched by the way she can make yearnings and ideas seem almost physical, (Village Voice Literary Supplement)

One of the most vitally innovative of contemporary poets. (World Literature Today

Purely numinous and transcendent poetry....one of our best and most influential poets. (Publishers Weekly)

A fresh reading of an important poet. (Beloit Poetry Journal, Spring 2003)

Culled from two dozen poetry books, and drawing from six decades of her writing life, The Selected Poems of Denise Levertov offers a chronological overview of her great body of work. It is splendid and impressive to have at last a clear, unobstructed view of her ground-breaking poetry — the work of a poet who, as Kenneth Rexroth put it, "more than anyone, led the redirection of American poetry...to the mainstream of world literature."