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.
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Posted By: Liz Nordstrom
ReplyDeleteI have personally never heard of Mary Oliver or her poetry so I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn about her here. I feel that the fact that she never obtained a college degree makes her seem even more talented because this signifies that poetry just comes naturally to her. She clearly did not need the direction of an institution to help her be successful with her craft.
I enjoy the fact that she is able to draw inspiration from the nature around her. As a fellow artist, I know that inspiration is often hard to find. But if she can always find it in the immediate world surrounding her, she will probably always be successful.
I also really like how you describe her poetry as being a way for women to escape their everyday lives and how they can use it to relax. For someone who has never read her poetry, this is a very good way to describe what it might sound like and how it might make you feel.
I've never heard of Mary Oliver before but she sounds like an amazing artist. I enjoy how she can use words to describe how beautiful and wonderful the sun is but then uses words to describe how ineffective words are in describing its beauty and wonder. I really wish you could have put the poem up but now I'm interested and I'm going to have to google it so I can read more of her work :D
ReplyDelete- Kaleigh K.
I have heard of Mary Oliver but only vaguely. I am glad your group choose to compile a blog about her since she is clearly "blog-worthy." I think it is refreshing that a fair amount of her works are about nature. It is definitely a way to relax and "escape" the stress of our every day lives. If you had to compare Mary Oliver to a female artist we learned about this semester who do you think it would be and why?
ReplyDeleteI think it is great to appreciate the beauty of Mary Oliver's words, but there is a great deal of subtlety and conflict that comes out of her work also. I wonder how the themes of her poems complement our course themes?
ReplyDeleteAnd I would have to disagree with Kaleigh that her poetry "just comes naturally" to her. She is an artist and that means she works very hard to create the effects that seem so effortless to a reader. That is part of what she is commenting on when she observes the sun falling back so effortlessly. When I teach creative writing, I remind my students that genius is about 2% inspiration and 98% hard work and skill that the artist has developed!
Sorry, I saw that was Liz, not Kaleigh.
ReplyDeleteWell first off I wouldnt compare her to anyone really. When I was researching her, no other artist seemed to come to mind and I really viewed her as individual. She is quite unique and I like to think of her as her own "type of artist." Im sure she would feel the same way.
ReplyDeleteAs for relating to course themes, I believe she is a wonderful example of the overall purpose of the course. She is a great example for women everywhere. She proves that women can be smart without an education and that she stands on her own. Most men I feel I can say are appreciative of things like women and money and things of little value, while Oliver appreciates the simpler things and explains to us how to do it.
Sorry, that response was posted by Amy Loehrs
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that Mary Oliver is a talented individual and deserves acclaim, I feel that it is strange to give her more credit because she did not graduate from college. Clearly, I appreciate the merits of an education, but I do not like how we often put "educated" individuals up on a pedestal. There are many other forms of education that are based more on experience rather than physical institutions. As such, even though the comment was meant to be posistive, I feel that it reasserts ideas of privilege.
ReplyDelete-Naomi Rose Dewar
I thought you set up your blog very nicely! Your post was very well written. I had never heard of Mary Oliver, and you provided lots of good information for someone who had never heard of her. You did a good job using sources as well!
ReplyDelete-Ashley O'Brien