Mary Oliver
One of the most unique poets of the 20th century, Mary Oliver’s writings serve as a form of veil through which we might see the connection between humanity and the natural world. She did write, after all, that we are all part of the “family of things.”
Born in 1935 in rural Ohio, Mary Oliver experienced a chaotic childhood filled with various forms of abuse. In this context, she began to connect with the natural world around her as a space of refuge and of escape. At the age of 14, she began writing poetry and using metaphors between the natural world and the human world to process what she was going through.
Later in life, her poetry would thoroughly shatter the illusion that the two worlds are separate at all.
This emphasis and focus on the natural world continued in her poetry for her entire life as she wrote poems such as the above “Wild Geese,” “The Swan,” and “Starlings in Winter.” She used vivid imagery to invite readers into their own experience of the natural world around them.
✍️ What is your relationship with the natural world? Do you experience it as separate from yourself? How do you interact with it on a daily basis?
Influences + Teachers
The natural world
Walt Whitman
Emily Dickinson
Henry David Thoreau
Approach to Poetry
A deeply spiritual person, Mary Oliver’s poetry is infused with a spirituality of abundance and contemplation.
This is why many, both within organized religion and outside of it, have found her poems to be somewhat prayer or meditation-like, inviting the reader into a deeper understanding of themselves and the Divine. There are times when her poetry feels part-prayer, part-therapy, and part-talking-with-your-wise-grandmother.
Krista Tippett, the host of the “On Being” podcast, refers to her poem “Wild Geese” as “a consoling vision of the redemption possible in ordinary life” and a poem that “has saved lives.”
Oliver often used her poetry to explore the larger existential questions that surround life, death, love, connection, and belonging.
But she did it with a twist.
Centering her writings and metaphors on the natural world, she would bring in philosophical conversation partners such as dogs, roses, geese, moss, and the waves.
✍️ What do elements of the natural world have to teach you? Have you ever gone to the water or into a forest simply to listen for what might emerge within you?
Core Themes
Impermanence
One of my favorite themes found throughout her poetry is the constant and consistent reminder of impermanence.
Everything is “now” and eventually must be let go.
This is one of the foundations of contemplative spirituality and is certainly a core part of Oliver’s spirituality and understanding of the world. In her poem "In Blackwater Woods," she writes:
To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
And in her poem, “Snow Geese,” she begins:
Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!
What a task
to ask
of anything, or anyone,
yet it is ours,
and not by the century or the year, but by the hours.
Meaning and Purpose
Mary Oliver always shared that her greatest wisdom teacher was nature itself.
And therefore one’s sense of meaning and purpose could be found through walking in the woods, listening to and observing the world around you, and simply allowing your body to feel connected to the larger Universe. She watched the world move with a delight and a twinkle in her eye - and while holding this posture, she found her own life’s meaning.
Here are her three instructions for living a life well-lived:
“Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.”
And of course there is her famous question (and possibly her most famous words) from her poem “The Summer Day:”
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
The Wednesday 1-2-3
Teachings, Questions, Resources.
Every Wednesday, I share:
1 contemplative and embodied teaching,
2 introspective questions, and
3 resources to help you get off autopilot and begin engaging in your inner work.
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