Vivid Imagery In Denise Levertov's Clouds

Using plethoras of vivid imagery, Denise Levertov’s “Clouds” describes the almost numb feelings the speaker feels as a result of the loss of a loved one. Levertov uses descriptors that are very strong. She uses words like “rising” (Line 1), “mounting” (Line 3), and “surging” (Line 4). These words all fall within the first half of the poem and portray a very clear image with powerful words Levertov also uses distinct adjectives that are not commonly worked into the average person's’ vernacular, words like “roseate” (Line 2), “hermetic” (Line 5), and “madrigal” (Line 29). It’s worth being noted that the final word mentioned is a type of secular musical composition common to the Renaissance and Baroque eras, so it is odd that it is being used to describe a field (britannica). The word choice overall in this work was very …show more content…
The poem begins by describing an approaching storm, then by the third stanza, immediately describe how someone has died, but the reader must infer that from what Levertov describes. Lines 7 through 9, Levertov writes, “Last night/as if death had lit a pale light/in your flesh,” to explain the sudden death of someone that can be assumed is her lover based on line 30 “death’s chill that visited our bed”. People usually don’t refer to a bed as “ours” besides when it’s in reference to a couple, or a very close family. Leverton uses describes many colors, painting a surreal world that has had the saturation turned up. It paints a clear picture for the reader and provides a common running thread of word choice through the poem. Levertov uses colors like opal, green, white, and gold, but the color gray is stated three times, more than any other color. Gray is often dull and unemotional, much how the speaker must feel during the poem. These descriptions paint a unique picture with a clear tone that is something that I struggle to do in my own writing and that I really