The May Mornings (1982). Detailed description

“The May Mornings” appears in Candles in Babylon (1982), one of Levertov’s later collections. Her earlier political poems had by this time earned her negative criticism for their graphic descriptions of violence, proselike quality, and didactic moral messages. Her work published in the late 1970s and early 1980s returned to a more personal, reflective mode of expression and a new interest in religious content. Yet it would be inaccurate to say that Levertov backed away from her political stances as an outspoken proponent of peace and leftist agendas. Rather, poems such as “The May Mornings” prove that she could be subtle, tender, and lyrical while also maintaining a critically aware position on social issues. Far from a throwback to her earlier romanticism, the poem uses her strong observational skills and appreciation of nature to comment on the beauty that we lose to war and disinterest.

“The May Mornings” opens with a carefully constructed sentence that sounds as pleasing to the ear as the image it describes appears to the eye. Levertov uses alliteration and consonance to affect a softness that complements the description of “cashmere shawls” and “burnished silk” (Poems 1972-1982 198). The repetition of s and sh sounds, strategically punctuated by harder t, d, and b sounds, eases the reader into a quiet lull without becoming muddy or unclear. The following lines remind us that we see these May mornings “approaching / over lawns, trailing / dewdark shadows and footprints” (198). Yet, we have forgotten.

The forgetting becomes the poem’s dramatic crux, complicating the simplicity of attractive images and sounds while pulling it away from a purely descriptive endeavor to become critical and proscriptive. Levertov explains the value of remembering the natural beauty:

what solace it would have been to think of them, what solace
it would be in the bitter violence of fire then ice again . . . (198).

By calling readers to remember the May mornings, Levertov suggests that imaginative concentration on beauty may act as an antidote to the “bitter violence / of fire then ice” (198). During the cold war years she grew increasingly concerned about nuclear warfare and the effect it could have on the world. In one interview she said, “The possibility of total annihilation that mankind faces as a real possibility in our time has never had a precedent” (Andre 54). Levertov may also be alluding to Robert Frost’s poem “Fire and Ice,” which briefly alludes to the world’s end.

“The May Mornings” does not describe the violence in horrific detail as some of her earlier poems do (“Life at War,” for example). Rather, it leaves it in the background and returns to more pleasant description. The end of the poem, however, does not carry the initial attitude of quiet beauty. The tone changes to something more resigned. She concedes that “it seems the May mornings / are a presence known / only as they pass” (198). Although the poem expresses hope through images of life and “wakening flowers,” a sense of despair acknowledges the threat of violence and indifference.

For Discussion or Writing
1. Levertov sometimes combines words to make an unusual compound word. “The May Mornings” contains three such words: dewdark, lightstepped, and leaflined. What does she achieve by making them one word instead of the grammatically correct two? Would the poem lose something by adhering to convention?

2. Toward the end of the poem, Levertov describes the May mornings as “seriously smiling.” Would you consider that an oxymoron? If so, what does the paradox suggest? How does it challenge the reader to rethink common assumptions? If not, how do you reconcile the attitudinal rift between being serious and smiling? Use specific examples from the poem to bolster your argument.

3. Read William Butler Yeats’s famous poem “The Second Coming,” which he wrote in the aftermath of World War I. Although written at very different points in history, “The Second Coming” and “The May Mornings” share a similar anxiety about the world’s end. Compare their specific references, the lyrical quality of each, and the general attitudes the two poems present. Which poem do you, as a reader years away from either historical context, think holds more relevance today?