This Great Unknowing Last Poems by Levertov, Denise; Paul A Lacey - Afterword - 2000

New York U. S. A.: New Directions Publishing Corporation. Very Good+ 2000. First Edition. Softcover. 0.3 x 7.8 x 5.7 Inches; 68 pages; From The Washington PostLevertov died in 1997. She did not entirely organize her book, but she must certainly have been aware, being so ill that the poems she was writing would be among her "last". The book's title, taken from the poem quoted above, was certainly a felicitous choice. Throughout the book there is a sense of endings, as well as a faith that such endings lead only to other belongings. This Great Unknowing contains nothing unfamiliar to readers accustomed to Levertov's work. There is the characteristic freshness of tone (and the occasional unconquered sentimentality) and Levertov's characteristic celebration of nature, with "every prodigy of green" " wholly at odds/with the claims of reasonable gloom." There may be a "great unknowing" but there is also a certainty in the attractiveness of Levertov's poetry. ReviewHer last forty poems prove her a poet of astounding clarity and vision. -- Poetry Book Club / Academy of American Poets ## Magnificent poems in a beautiful book., Dec 21, 1999By Online Rev:This book was my first introduction to the poems of Denise Levertov. I heard about it in an essay written by Kathleen Norris in The Christian Century. The poems are strikingly beautiful and accessible to anyone. Levertov captures our imagination with the depth of her insights and the beauty of her words--not with the obscurity of her images. I have given copies of this to no less than four friends and each of them have bought other copies of her works for themselves. Highly recommended. .