"this need to dance / this need to kneel"

"these essential essays, richly varied and focused, explore the range and depth of levertov's life, her movement towards a faith necessary to her being, and her work as activist and poet. the essays cover much that has not been defined before and shine a clear light on the poems that place levertov at the forefront of the poetry of faith. a book for anyone interested in the continuing worth, in our troubled times, of great poetry."  --john f. deane, founder of poetry ireland, author of dear pilgrims

"like the 2015 loyola university conference that spawned them, these essays offer a feast for reflection on the poetry of denise levertov. the complexity, richness, and radiance of her work comes alive on the page as numerous commentators--poets, literary critics, theologians, philosophers, novelists and philologists--explore her contribution as poet, prophet and priest. the volume is unique in that it puts front and center levertov's poetic life as an act of faith."  --dana greene, emory university, author of denise levertov: a poet's life

"a wide-ranging collection of thought-provoking and provocative essays that explore the theological, political, ecological, esthetic, and poetic dimensions of denise levertov's grace-saturated poetry and thought. here is a voice, it has become ever clearer, as central to the catholic imagination as the work of flannery o'connor, thomas merton, and dorothy day."  --paul mariani, boston college

"it is a joy and reassurance to see and know that denise levertov, her life, her work, and her deep but complex spirituality continue to inspire sensitive, scholarly reflection. that the editors and contributors continue to find such jewels of wisdom in levertov's religious poems, and in her 'incarnational poetics of faith' bespeaks her continued value for the twenty-first century and beyond."  --edwin block, marquette university

"this is a stunning collection of essays on one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. taken together, they offer a profound way to engage the theological poetics of denise levertov's work."  --mark bosco, s.j., georgetown university

Michael P. Murphy is Director of the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of A Theology of Criticism: Balthasar, Postmodernism, and the Catholic Imagination (2008). Recent writings include ""Breaking Bodies: O'Connor and the Aesthetics of Consecration,"" in the edited volume Revelation and Convergence (2017). Melissa Bradshaw is a Senior Lecturer in English at Loyola University Chicago. Her work focuses on publicity, personality, and fandom in twentieth-century British and American poetry. Her book Amy Lowell, Diva Poet (2011) won the 2011 MLA Book Prize for Independent Scholars. She has also published on Edith Sitwell, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and on divas more generally.