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.
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I enjoyed reading your post on Mary Oliver. I’ve never heard of her before, but she sounds like a passionate, intense, and emotional writer. I like that she brings her own life into her work, using the simple observations of nature around her to bring her poems to life. When I read that she walks almost every day to gather inspirations for images and words, it made me happy that she is able to bring reality and purity into her poems. Also, her focus on women and nature and the deep connection between the two seems like it would be a very interesting read. I would like to find out more about that—do you know of any poems or novels that deal with this topic?
ReplyDelete“Wild Geese” sounds like it is touching, and most likely derived from Oliver’s own life. I wonder if she had a period of isolation in which she realized that she was not alone as long as nature existed. I like that the poem is about how there is no such thing as loneliness because you are always going to have nature with you. You will always be able to experience the beauty and power of the animals, plants, and atmosphere in which you live, no matter if you feel neglected and lost. Nature will never be mad at you. It is a very interesting way to look at the natural world—I have never thought about it like that before. It definitely brings a new perception to the way I see life.
I think you did a great job exploring the works of a lesser recognized writer. It is always exciting to read something new and refreshing. Good job on your blog.
Lauren Inouye
I like how you start off your blog telling the reader why Mary Oliver should have a fan page, this shows that you know more about Mary Oliver than just writing about one of her works. I like that Mary Oliver gets her inspiration for her poems from nature, becasue it shows that she is very conected to the natural world around her. I also like how you use lines from the poem to give the reader a sense of how she writes. I think you did a good job explaining the lines from the poem. Your conclusion to the blog really ties everything together, I think you did a good job.
ReplyDeleteBrittany Shade
Dear Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my blog! I think it's awesome that you appreciate Mary Oliver's work and that you understand where she writes from. Mary Oliver is really the only author I know of who relates nature and women in such a deep way. If you're interested in more of her work, she has published a great amount of books with her poetry and prose. Almost all of her works relate to nature in some way. -Caitlin Cicchetti
Dear Brittany,
ReplyDeleteThank you also for reading my blog and for appreciating my words about Mary Oliver!-Caitlin Cicchetti