Mary Oliver 1935 – The poet near her home on Cape Cod, MA – 2010

Poet’s biography: At 17, began a friendship with the sister of late Pulitzer Prize- winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and lived on her estate for years Called by the New York Times the best-selling American poet living Published her first poetry collection at age 28 Awarded the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (1980), National Book Award (1992), and Pulitzer Prize for poetry (1984) Moved with her partner to Provincetown, MA, in the 1950’s, where she lives alone today Born in a semi-rural suburb of Cleveland, OH in 1935 Began writing poetry at age 14

Mary Oliver’s Poetry Oliver’s poetry is rooted in the nature she’s observed in her childhood home (OH) and New England. Her work is colored by “dark introspection” juxtaposed against “joyous release.” Oliver is influenced by Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and St. Vincent Millay. Her prose is said to be “unadorned” and her themes “accessible.” Some critics accuse Oliver of assuming an automatically close relationship between women and nature.

Wild Geese 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. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever 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.

Group assignment: Find a partner (one group in 5 th will have 3; in 4 th, one person may work alone if they like) Choose one of Oliver’s poems (not “Wild Geese”) Analyze the poem based on the 3 specific literary elements you find most prominent Present the poem to the class, including your complete markup (on a PowerPoint slide or a similar medium) You will have work time on Monday; presentations will take place Wednesday & Friday

Works cited ca-mary-oliver ca-mary-oliver mary-oliver mary-oliver &tb=1&pb=1 &tb=1&pb=1 chaikhana.com/O/OliverMary/InBlackwater.htm chaikhana.com/O/OliverMary/InBlackwater.htm management/trumpeter-swan-reintroductions.aspx management/trumpeter-swan-reintroductions.aspx