SOURCE: "Magistral Strokes and First Steps," in The Nation, New York, Vol. 212, No. 25, June 21, 1971, pp. 794-95.

Zweig was an American poet, translator, and critic whose books include the poetry collections Against Emptiness (1971) and The Dark Side of the Earth (1974). Here he offers an unfavorable assessment of Relearning the Alphabet, criticizing the "literariness" of the collection and faulting several poems that seem "incomplete."

I have always admired Denise Levertov's poetry. Her sparse, sinuous language reminds me of an artist who is able to suggest a face, the entire mystery of a gesture, with a single, uninterrupted pencil stroke. The word "mystery" is apt, too, because that is what Miss Levertov's poetry seems so often to be concerned with: inner landscapes, nourished by strong emotion, by moments of recognition and self-recognition, which have the plastic energy of a revelation, as in this short poem, "Abel's Bride," from Sorrow Dance:

 Woman...