Mary Oliver and "The Sun"

Mary Oliver is a writer of extraordinary abilities and accomplishments. As an author of many creative works, she has won several prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize for her volume American Primitive (1983). Her accomplishments come with twice the amount, if not more, of honor because she did this without having earned a college degree. She attended both Vassar and Ohio State University but never finished her education at neither institution (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/265).

Mary Oliver’s writing is deeply reflective of the nature that surrounds her everyday. She describes a great communion with the natural world. Her descriptive words paint a beautiful picture in the reader’s mind, intertwining the different worlds of humans, plants, and animals. Oliver clearly has a deep connection to nature and finds inspiration from outdoor walks, the sky, clouds, mountains, birds, and everything else in the world. Her poems talk about becoming one with nature and the beauty in solitude with it. She deeply urges her readers to really look at things you would see everyday, and not to take it for granted. One of her poems, The Sun, is a perfect example.
In her poem, The Sun, she tells us about the sun and its effortless beauty. She describes how it is always there for us, day in and day out, dusk and dawn. Oliver describes how easy it is for the sun to fall into the horizon and rise back up on the other side of the world. She even admits having a lack of words for how to describe its pleasure. The end of poems asks the reader if they can feel the same and appreciate the sun as she does, or if we are simply too tied up in our own lives and possessions to see the sun as something we have everyday (The Sun, Oliver).

Mary Oliver is very deserving of her own fan page. She has given us such vivid writing and a new outlook on life. She forces us to leave behind our excess of “stuff” and really look intimately at the world not of our making (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/265). Her work is moving and inspirational to all. Women everywhere can appreciate her work as a way to escape their everyday lives and relax from any hardships.

Mary Oliver and "The Swan" -Michelle Lowther

Mary Oliver is a world renowned poet and author, although she is most famous for her work as a poet. Born in 1935 in a small town outside of Cleveland, Ohio Mary Oliver now resides in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Oliver’s poetry reflects largely on nature and her vast ability to create art with words (http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Mary_Oliver). Mary Oliver is a poet worthy of a fan page because of her vast accomplishments both as a writer and as a woman. Although she attended both Ohio State University and Vassar College, she never obtained a college degree, making her achievements as a writer all that more astounding. Likewise, her many awards, such as the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award, a Lannan Literary Award, the Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Prize and Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, along with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts are nothing short of praise worthy and are a showcase to her many talents (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/265). Some of her most famous works include: “Wild Geese”, “A Visitor”, “Mockingbirds”, “The Journey”, “Climbing the Chagrin River”, and “The Swan” (http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/poets/m_r/oliver/online_poems.htm).
The poem “The Swan” is a perfect representation of the work Mary Oliver does. This piece not only demonstrates her strong themes of nature, it is also a fantastic display of her way with words and ability to captivate the reader. In this poem, Oliver speaks of a swan drifting atop a river. Oliver uses words such as “snow bank”, “bank of lilies”, “white blossoms”, and “waterfall” to really bring the nature to life and help the reader to create the picture in their head, until they too can see the swan drifting along. Also, this excerpt from the poem demonstrates how easily Oliver captivates her audience and pulls them into the story: “And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds - A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet like black leaves, its wings like the stretching light of the river? (http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/poets/m_r/oliver/online_poems.htm)”. Particularly in the poem “The Swan”, Oliver is constantly asking questions which beg the reader to imagine the surroundings as if they were their own and take them on as reality. By the end of the poem, Oliver asks questions not about the swan, but about how it’s beauty can touch you not only as a pleasing sight but much deeper asking, “And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything? And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for? And have you changed your life? (http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/poets/m_r/oliver/online_poems.htm)”. Her writing style is truly enthralling.
Mary Oliver effects our culture, especially that of women in our culture, by showing the many amazing accomplishments and admiration a woman in this society can achieve and how not necessarily living up to the standards of our society (for example: go to school, get an education, and therefore be successful) can still bring great success and accomplishment to those who put their heart and soul into that which they wish to achieve.

Mary Oliver and "Wild Geese"

Mary Oliver is a well known poet from the state of Ohio. I think she is worthy of a fan page for several different reasons. First, and most importantly, Mary Oliver is an award winning poet and should be recognized as such. Throughout her career, Oliver has been a college professor, won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection, "American Primitive," she earned the title "Poet In Residence," and served as a chair member for Distinguished Teaching at Bennington. It is even more impressive that Oliver accomplished all of this without a college degree.
(http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=5130)

Most, if not all, of Oliver's work relates to her memories of Ohio and her new home in New England. She is known for her observances of the natural world and the relationship of women with nature. Her poems have a reoccurring theme of bringing images or shore birds, water snakes, whales, and the moon. Oliver is able to get her inspiration from nature because it is always available to her. She takes walks almost every day as a way to help her with her poetry. (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=5130)

One poem in particular that represents her love of nature and how humans are intertwined with it, is "Wild Geese." This poem is about how a person does not have to be perfect in this world. Oliver states, "You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves" (Oliver, Mary). She is saying that you do not have to be good all the time, and you do not have to regret anything, you only have to be who you are. Everyone has despairs, but the world still goes on. "Meanwhile the sun and the clear blue pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes...meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again" (Oliver, Mary). Oliver explains that no matter who you are or how lonely you are, the world is still there offering itself to you. It "calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--over and over announcing your place in the family of things" (Oliver, Mary). There is good and bad in the world, but no matter what, you still have a place in nature.

"Wild Geese" is a poem a message of hope. Everyone in this world has problems and may feel lonely, but the world will keep spinning, and if you allow yourself to look around and let nature be apart of you, you will see that, like a wild geese, the world can be harsh but also exciting. But no matter what, you are apart of this world and you belong here.