Denise Levertov (1923–1997) draws from many rich traditions to create her unique, visionary poetry, including the Welsh mysticism of her mother's ancestry and the Russian Hasidic Judaism of her father's. Born in Essex, England, Levertov was schooled at home. During the London blitz of World War II, she served as a nurse. She became a poet at a very early age, publishing her first collection, The Double Image, in 1946. In 1947, she moved to the United States. There she developed her distinctive voice, finding, in poem after poem, magic and mystery just behind the banal and ordinary.

Influences on Levertov's style include the poet H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) and, later, William Carlos Williams, whom she credits with helping her to find a voice as an American poet. During the 1960s, she translated, with Edward Dimock, Jr., In Praise of Krishna: Songs from the Bengali and became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. Relearning the Alphabet appeared in 1970 and contains some of her best verse, including the magnificent "A Tree Telling of Orpheus." Other collections of her poetry include Here and Now (1957), Overland to the Islands (1958), Candles in Babylon (1982), and Breathing the Water (1987). Levertov taught at Drew University, Vassar College, and Stanford University.