Organic Form is only the beginning of the writing process.
First, I must say that I LOVED the Levertov essay, “Some Notes on Organic Form.” And she mentioned the etymology of two words at the top of 1083 that I just wanted to mention here:
“To contemplate comes from ‘templum, temple, a place, a space for observation, marked out by the augur.’ It means, not simply to observe, to regard, but to do these things in the presence of a god. And to meditate is ‘to keep the mind in a state of contemplation’; its synonym is ‘to muse,’ and to muse comes from a word meaning ‘to stand with open mouth’– not so comical if we think of ‘inspiration’–to breathe in.”
For Levertov, the writing process verges on spiritual. She concludes the essay:
A religious devotion to the truth, to the splendor of the authentic, involves the writer in a process rewarding in itself: but when that devotion brings us to undreamed abysses and we find ourselves sailing slowly over them and landing on the other side–that’s ecstasy.
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