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“I often feel as if part of me is an outsider,” said Denise Levertov speaking to the public after reciting a few poems in 1967. For a women that always felt as if she was an outsider, her poetry did not give off that image. Levertov, a modern American poet, used her poetry to speak her mind and get her feelings out. She also wished that some people would feel the same way and act upon it. In poetry, a theme is a common subject or matter on which a poet tends to write about, this could be anything from The Great Depression to ice cream. The themes of Denise Levertovs poetry change dramatically with what events or problems were going on in her life at the particular time of each poem, yet all of her work is based on a human experience(Themes). Denise Levertov’s passion for literature started early in life. She was born in Ilford, Essex, England on October 24, 1923. Levertov was educated entirely at home by her mother, Beatrice Spooner, and at age five, she announced she would become a writer. When Denise was just twelve years old, she sent some of her poetry to T.S. Elliot who responded with, “excellent advice,” and two pages of encouragement to keep writing. In 1940, her first poem was published in Poetry Quarterly, at just seventeen years of age(Levertov). During World War II, Denise served as a civilian nurse in London throughout the England bombings. During this time she met and married Mitchell Goodman, an American soldier fighting in London, and also published her first book, The Double Image. The two of them moved to America in 1948 and a year later had a son Nickolai.
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