Cycles: Mary Oliver
Jan. 4th, 2013 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookblather posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
poetreeToday I am not sharing my own poetry, but that of a favorite poet just rediscovered: Mary Oliver.
Mary Oliver writes primarily, as far as I have read, about nature. That's almost too simple for her poems, since of course they're never just about one thing, but if I had to pick a single theme that runs through her work it would be the wild, unknowable necessity of being and living in a world that we don't and can't understand. It's inevitable, then, that some of her poems would be about cycles, from birth and death to the cycle of seasons.
Unfortunately I do not have permission to post any of her poetry to this community, but I can link you to a few of her cyclic poems via The Poetry Foundation.
The Hermit Crab deals both with the cycle of life and standing against death, like so many of Oliver's poems.
Spring. This one is more about hope, rising with the spring. It's one of my favorite poems by her.
Morning Glories is about life, and death, and beauty.
This is not actually about cycles, but it is my favorite poem by Mary Oliver, so I will share it too: The Summer Day.
What do you think? What do these cyclic poems say to you?
Mary Oliver writes primarily, as far as I have read, about nature. That's almost too simple for her poems, since of course they're never just about one thing, but if I had to pick a single theme that runs through her work it would be the wild, unknowable necessity of being and living in a world that we don't and can't understand. It's inevitable, then, that some of her poems would be about cycles, from birth and death to the cycle of seasons.
Unfortunately I do not have permission to post any of her poetry to this community, but I can link you to a few of her cyclic poems via The Poetry Foundation.
The Hermit Crab deals both with the cycle of life and standing against death, like so many of Oliver's poems.
Spring. This one is more about hope, rising with the spring. It's one of my favorite poems by her.
Morning Glories is about life, and death, and beauty.
This is not actually about cycles, but it is my favorite poem by Mary Oliver, so I will share it too: The Summer Day.
What do you think? What do these cyclic poems say to you?
