Sands of the Well

by Denise Levertov

Book Overview

Denise Levertov was born in England in 1923. She published her first book of poems in 1946 and moved to America in 1948. SANDS OF THE WELL, first published in hardcover in 1996, shows the poet at the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811213617
• ISBN13: 9780811213615
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 136 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A woman of Beats

If you strive to be a nonconformist, then you must be a lover of the Beat poets. Levertov is one of the few women to break into the leagues of the famous men: Ginsberg, Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Corso, Burroughs, Bukowski

Levertov's SANDS OF TIME Moves Us Gently toward Last Words

In this collection of Denise Levertov's last poems (1923-1996) we have a fine music moving us with her through commitment and conscience to an act of faith. That faith is in the God she came to connect with during her last years living in Seattle. To know that God, you must read the book and the countless poems of honest and delicate expression bonding us with Nature and humanity. In poem after poem she moves us through and beyond our daily details to a deep awareness of the transparent wonder of being alive. In the eight sections of the book, she captures in intricate detail and clear voice the movement of her life at its close. Her opening poem "What Harbinger?" hints at her own awareness of death's approach; and the final poem "Primary Wonder" answers with a brave acceptance. These are poems as "last words," reminding us of the beauty of our days and the wonder of language to record them. Levertov is America's poet of engagement and wonder.

reading only words

The title "Sands of the Well" may suggest that Ms. Levertov's labor was like eking out words but in them there are a collage from newspaper clippings, a love poem for former lovers and the time she's spent simply writing words.