The Impersonal as Personal

In the introductory note to Life in the Forest, Levertov discusses the influence that the work of Italian poet and novelist Cesare Pavese had on her own poems in this collection. Addressing his 1936 publication of Lavorare Stanca (Hard Labor), Levertov notes that "Pavese's beautiful poems are about various persons other than himself; though he is a presence in them also, their focus is definitely not autobiographical and egocentric." She admires Pavese's "concept of suggesting a narrative through the depiction of a scene, a landscape, rather than through direct recounting of events as such," and she admits wanting to accomplish the same in her current work. "The Blue Rim of Memory" is a testimony to her success in this endeavor.

There is no "I" in this poem, nor is there a "you" or any indication that a specific person is being addressed. Yet, there is an...