Levertov Evening Train

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First published in 1993, Denise Levertov’s Evening Train deals with the themes of nature, history, relationships, and faith. Divided into eight sections, Levertov writes a mixture of long poems and short poems, each which captures the essence of the night. In the collection, there are several images regarding nature and faith, which illustrates a connection/association between the two imageries. That is to say, the poems illustrate the happenings during the night and establish a journey; Levertov brings the idea the there is something to strive for at the end of a journey. Throughout the collection, Levertov also includes moments of war imagery especially in the section titled, “Witnessing From Afar.” The introduction of the war images show what is happening during the night and that some people are unaware of what goes on. There is a contrast between nature’s beauty and the dark war, however, the two are bonded by the image of faith. …show more content…

This is due to the fact that Levertov does include cultural references, for example Disney in the same section that deals with the preparation for war. Nonetheless, Evening Train establishes Levertov’s poems as a representation of history and does a great job telling a story. In addition, the title, Evening Train, suggests a kind of journey in which the collection highlights going from one point to another that relate to the title of each section. The title itself explains a journey through the night and along the way, the speaker encounters moving from something far or out of reach and move towards the end arriving at the

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