Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver’s Biography

Considered by scholars to be America’s most popular poet, Mary Oliver achieved critical acclaim and reached a widespread readership. Born outside of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1935, she experienced a traumatic childhood and a dysfunctional home life. By escaping to the woods to find solace and refuge, she immersed herself in the natural world and began writing poetry. These early experiences would inform her later work as a poet and prose writer.

In the 1960s, Oliver moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she lived with her partner and literary agent Molly Malone Cook until Cook died in 2005. Famously private about her personal life, Oliver rarely gave interviews. It was only in her later work that she began writing about personal, real-life experiences. She died at the age of 83 in 2019.

Mary Oliver’s Poems

Inspired by Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and other similar writers, Oliver’s poems focus on the wonder of the natural world. They often feature no distinction between speaker and nature, where the speaker muses on observations of wildlife and plant life as it relates to the self. Using her daily walks as inspiration, she wrote poems that are solitary and meditative but also firmly rooted in a sense of place.

Oliver’s poems are known for their accessibility, and yet they are multi-layered, poignant, and wise.

A flock of geese in flight, as mentioned in Mary Oliver's poem "Wide Geese" Pixabay.

“Wild Geese”

First published in her poetry collection Dream Work (1986), “Wild Geese” is perhaps Oliver’s most famous poem. Through observing a flock of wild geese, the speaker explores feelings of guilt, despair, and ultimately belonging. Because of the speaker’s direct address to the audience, many readers find comfort and healing in its lines.

“The Summer Day”

Another widely read poem of Mary Oliver’s is “The Summer Day,” published in House of Light (1990). This poem opens with the speaker asking several questions, contemplating the creation of the world and its wildlife. The speaker then shifts their focus to a grasshopper who is “gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes” (line 8). In classic Oliver fashion, the speaker shifts yet again to the self, referring to the joys of strolling through fields, falling down on the grass, and being idle. The poem ends with a final call to action—a rhetorical question to remind readers of their aliveness:

A swamp, which is described in Mary Oliver's poem "Crossing the Swamp," Pixabay.

“Crossing the Swamp”

“Crossing the Swamp” (American Primitive, 1983) is a poem about a speaker who describes their journey across a swamp. Rich in imagery, sound devices, and metaphor, the poem is layered with meaning. It’s not just about the swamp but also about one’s relationship to hardship and triumph. Oliver structures the poem with jagged lines to mirror the struggle of crossing something seemingly impenetrable:

Mary Oliver’s Books

Mary Oliver is a prolific author who has published thirty-three poetry collections and four non-fiction books.

American Primitive

This collection of fifty poems, published in 1983, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. The volume contains contemplative poems about oneness with nature, the loss of children, and our country’s mistreatment of Native Americans. Lyrical and sensual, these resonant poems observe humanity’s internal and external worlds.

Dream Work

To follow American Primitive, Mary Oliver released Dream Work in 1986. A collection of forty-five poems, this volume explores painful personal histories, the failures of human relationships, and the life-affirming joy found in self-awareness. In “The Journey,” Oliver writes about listening to one’s inner voice to find peace and direction. The speaker says:

Devotions

Devotions (2017), a collection of selected poems curated by Mary Oliver herself, contains more than 200 poems, her most expansive collection yet. Luminous, perceptive, and resonating, this volume serves as an introduction to the prolific body of work by one of the best-selling contemporary poets. Readers delight in Oliver’s timeless contemplation of the natural world, her exploration of joy and grief, and her continued amazement at all living things.

A kingfisher flapping its wings above water, which inspired Mary Oliver's poem "The Kingfisher" (1992), Pixabay.

Quotes

In a 2015 interview with Krista Tippett for the podcast On Being, Mary Oliver talked about her difficult childhood and the positive effect poetry and exploring the natural world had on her:

In the poem “When Death Comes” (published in New and Selected Poems, 1992), Oliver writes about approaching the end of life, capturing her hallmark optimism and wonder:

In her short yet powerful poem “The Uses of Sorrow” (from Thirst: Poems, 2007), Oliver reframes the darkness that comes with a traumatic past. Instead of it being something to fear or dread, she realizes the blessing it can bring: