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323 ratings, 4.70 average rating, 48 reviews
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published
November 15th 2005
by Beacon Press
binding
Hardcover, 255 pages
isbn
0807068780
(isbn13: 9780807068786)
description
When New and Selected Poems, Volume One was originally published in 1992, Mary Oliver was awarded the National Book Award. In the fourteen years since...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 431)
recommended to Donald by:
Charissa Drengsen
recommends it for: Anyone
recommends it for: Anyone
Phrase after phrase explodes in your conciousness with the sweet shrapnel of earned wisdom. Oliver is a keen observer of the natural world and the workings of her own mind, casting her lucid nets wide to encompass some of the best nature poetry I've ever read and some of the best snapshots of the small moments of human intimacy and exchange that let something akin to grace bleed into our daily lives.
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3 comments
Read in March, 2008
Update: Best book of poetry I've read in years. There just aren't enough superlatives. This woman is fantastic!
Happiness
In the afternoon I watched
the she-bear; she was looking
for the secret bin of sweetness -
honey, that the bees store
in the trees’ soft caves.
Black block of gloom, she climbed down
tree after tree and shuffled on
through the woods. And then
she found it! The honey-house deep
as heartwood, and dipped into it
among the swarming bees - honey and comb
she ...more
Happiness
In the afternoon I watched
the she-bear; she was looking
for the secret bin of sweetness -
honey, that the bees store
in the trees’ soft caves.
Black block of gloom, she climbed down
tree after tree and shuffled on
through the woods. And then
she found it! The honey-house deep
as heartwood, and dipped into it
among the swarming bees - honey and comb
she ...more
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28 comments
I LOVE Mary Oliver and would recommend her poetry to anyone. One of the reasons I so love her work is that she is totally accessible. She doesn't write those things that are so obtuse that you are afraid to say, "What the hell is that about?" because everyone else is also afraid to say that and so they all act like it's just brilliant and so no one ever just says, "That makes no *&$%!*&! sense at all. It's horrible." And such is the world of art and poetry today.
A...more
A...more
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From "Spring": "Somewhere/a black bear/has just risen from sleep/and is staring/down the mountain./All night/in the brisk and shallow restlessness/of early spring/I think of her/her four black fists/flicking gravel/her tongue/like a red fire/touching the grass/the cold water./There is only one question:/how to love this world."
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3 comments
Read in August, 2007
I'll be re-reading Mary Oliver's poems for the rest of my life. I had the privilege of hearing her read at Bates College last September, and was simply blown away. I look to her when I'm up, when I'm down, when I need inspiration, pretty much when I need anything at all. Among my favorites, from "The Summer Day":
"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blesse...more
"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blesse...more
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Read in July, 2008
LANDSCAPE
Isn't it plain the sheets of moss, except that
they have no tongues, could lecture
all day if they wanted about
spiritual patience? Isn't it clear
the blackoaks along the path are standing
as though they were the most fragile of flowers?
Every morning I walk like this around
the pond, thinking: if the doors of my heart
ever close, I am as good as dead.
Every morning, so far, I'm alive. And now
the crows break off from the rest of darkness
and burst up into the sky...more
Isn't it plain the sheets of moss, except that
they have no tongues, could lecture
all day if they wanted about
spiritual patience? Isn't it clear
the blackoaks along the path are standing
as though they were the most fragile of flowers?
Every morning I walk like this around
the pond, thinking: if the doors of my heart
ever close, I am as good as dead.
Every morning, so far, I'm alive. And now
the crows break off from the rest of darkness
and burst up into the sky...more
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Read in January, 2001
Poetry is tough. I wouldn't be so bold as to recommend this to anyone without knowing them intimately first. However, if you're looking for a modern day naturalist and appreciate strong animalistic metaphors, Mary Oliver is your woman. I first heard about her from my Aunt, who lives on Cape Cod, Mary's residence. She sent me The Journey when I was just begining to find my adult legs. I have since passed it to one person when they needed it most (or maybe when I needed them to read it the mo...more
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Read in March, 2008
...what I want in my life
is to be willing
to be dazzled --
to cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even
float a little
above this difficult world.
I love Oliver's poems. Her words are inspiring, but offer more than just idealistic notions of the world-as-it-should-be...instead her poetry grabs hold of sorrow and ugliness and embraces it, bringing out the beauty in even the most looked over of things.
I want to believe that imperfections are nothing --
that the light is everything -- that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading ...more
is to be willing
to be dazzled --
to cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even
float a little
above this difficult world.
I love Oliver's poems. Her words are inspiring, but offer more than just idealistic notions of the world-as-it-should-be...instead her poetry grabs hold of sorrow and ugliness and embraces it, bringing out the beauty in even the most looked over of things.
I want to believe that imperfections are nothing --
that the light is everything -- that it is more than the sum
of each flawed blossom rising and fading ...more
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A good poetry book is never finished being read, but acts more as a reference to return to over and over again. This collection holds some of my most beloved Mary Oliver: Wild Geese, Sunflowers and The Journey. Mary Oliver writes poetry the way I dream of.
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Read in June, 2008
How many sticky notes can you get in one book? A lot, it turns out! I finally had to abandon the idea of marking my new favorite poem and just admit that all of these poems are my favorites. Mary Oliver always reminds me to stop, look, listen to the world all around me. I get chills every time.
"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed
.....
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
...more
"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed
.....
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
...more
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I began to be interested in poetry about 3 years ago after reading an article about Ted Kooser, the US Poet Laureate at the time and liking many of his poems. I hadn't tried to read poetry since college when I found it very laborious but now that I can read poetry I like, not what was assigned to me, I've really learned to appreciate it. My favorite poem from this collection is "Wild Geese".
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Read in June, 2007
I bought this book because "Wild Geese" is my favorite poem. Ms. Oliver is probably the best nature poet around.
Not all of the poems in this collection rise to the level of "Wild Geese" (in fact, most do not), but it is a very good collection of a masterful poet at the top of her game. Ms. Oliver reminds me of a non-rhyming, female version of Robert Frost.
Not all of the poems in this collection rise to the level of "Wild Geese" (in fact, most do not), but it is a very good collection of a masterful poet at the top of her game. Ms. Oliver reminds me of a non-rhyming, female version of Robert Frost.
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recommends it for:
anyone
Her writing is so precise, so beautiful, so spare. Each of her poems speaks to you in a different voice every time you read it. And her poems are each worth a read out loud. Whether or not you like poetry, her most famous works are absolutely understandable and moving to everyone. One of my favorite poets of all time.
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oliver's poetry intimates things so visceral yet so shockingly personal that the gap between humanity and nature seems to be irrevocably narrowed. i am left with an uncanny feeling of siblinghood with geese ("wild geese), ants ("song of the builders"), and every other good creature under the sun.
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mary oliver is badass. i read this piece that she wrote about living in Cape Cod as a broke ass poet, and she said that she would buy a big sack of rice and then go out into the ditches and forests of cape cod and find wild herbs and berries. she foraged in modern day cape cod. well done, mary.
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she's the best. her voice is simple, her language is precise, and her subject matter is ordinary...but her range is extensive. she is one of america's best poets, clearly one of the best living american poets. this is a great large collection, spanning quite a few years of writing. enjoy accordingly.
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Read in October, 2006
Mary Oliver's poetry offers a delightful picture of nature and the divine through her poetry. As I read, I find myself drawn to her description of the natural world and caught with surprise at her insight into the soul. She writes of a God whom I want to know and surrender to.
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone!
Poetry is the perfect way to still feel literate when an infant is taking up all of your time! These poems are beautiful and perfect, ideally read under a weeping willow near a rolling stream (or beside a Diaper Genie, with a burp cloth thrown over your shoulder).
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Read in January, 2006
Mary Oliver writes to my experience.
"...Woever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting ---
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
"...Woever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting ---
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
I liked these poems but didn't fall head over heels. Oliver is a bit too religious for my tastes, though her natural world is one I recognize and feel at home in. Her eye is keen, her voice assured. A couple of her verses will stay with me.
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quotes from this book
"When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement.
--from WHEN DEATH COMES"
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