Come Into Animal Presence Levertov Summary

When I first read Come Into Animal Presence by Denise Levertov I was captivated. The poem spoke to me, after I first read it the way I interpreted the poem is a bit different than the way I see it now. When I first read the book I believed that Levertov was trying to show us how innocent and simple animals are, but yet how humans are not. I thought this, for she used words like guileless (innocent, without deception) and insouciant (showing a lack of concern) to describe animals. She talks about how the animals do only what they know to do, the animals do not leave their course because it is the only thing they know. When I first read the poem I believed that Levertov was trying to convey the joy that we get by seeing these animals, act without a care of what is happening around them. I know see the poem as a lesson trying to teach us to take life simpler. She does this by relating humans to animals

She is able to send a message when she calls the snake guileless. She is saying that she believes that a person should be straightforward with others and with oneself. Levertov believes that a person should not be trying to hide anything or be too concerned about what one does. People should not be too concerned about what has happened you can 't change that past, but in the same sense worrying about the future is not going to help, it will hold you back when you want to make bold decisions for you will be worried about the consequences. In the first stanza levertov also calls an armadillo insouciant. The armadillo see’s no fear in the people it comes across as it is walking on its path, it simply keeps walking into the brush. This is showing that the armadillo does what his instincts tell him to do and he is not scared or pushed off his path by others who are trying to distract him.. With the armadillo Levertov is trying teach us not to get intimidated by