The American poet (born in England - 1923) Denise Levertov was influenced by many poets throughout her long career. As a girl and young poet her greatest influence was T.S. Eliot, who encouraged her after Levertov - then just 12 years old - wrote to him. After moving to the United States with her American husband in 1948 she struck up a friendship with William Carlos Williams, who had a profound influence - especially during her formative years when she came into her own as a poet. But the one influence on Levertov that was a constant throughout her life - not just on her poetic style, but also on what it means to live as a poet in the world - was Rainer Maria Rilke.
Here she takes an early poem of Rilke's and transforms it into something new and powerful. While in Rilke's poem the poetic inspiration describe comes from within the poet - ringing like bell, for Levertov it comes from a force without - a transcendent God.
Variation on a Theme by Rilke
A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me--a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over
and struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task, The day's blow
rang out, metallic--or it was I, a bell awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.Levertov, Denise, Breathing the Water (New York, NY: New Directions Publishing Corp., 1987)
Rainer Maria Rilke
Das Stunden-Buch . 2. Auflage 1907
Da neigt sich die Stunde und rührt mich an
mit klarem, metallenem Schlag:
mir zittern die Sinne. Ich fühle: ich kann -
und ich fasse den plastischen Tag.
Nichts war noch vollendet, eh ich es erschaut,
ein jedes Werden stand still.
Meine Blicke sind reif, und wie eine Braut
kommt jedem das Ding, das er will.
Nichts ist mir zu klein und ich lieb es trotzdem
und mal es auf Goldgrund und groß,
und halte es hoch, und ich weiß nicht wem
löst es die Seele los...
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