Mit ihrem Hund streifte Mary Oliver durch die Landschaft New Englands und verfasste die wohl bekanntesten zeitgenössischen Gedichte über die zarten Erscheinungen der Natur. In ihren klaren, scheinbar schlichten Beschreibungen fühlen wir uns aufs Tiefste mit der physischen Welt verbunden. ›Sag mir, was hast du vor mit deinem wilden, kostbaren Leben‹ ist das von Oliver selbst zusammengestellte Best-of ihres Schaffens. »Aufmerksam zu sein«, schrieb sie, »ist unsere unendliche und zweckmäßige Aufgabe.«
Now a Read With Jenna Book Club Pick Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career. “No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love.” —The Washington Post “It’s as if the poet herself has sidled beside the reader and pointed us to the poems she considers most worthy of deep consideration.” —Chicago Tribune Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years. Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.
Mary Oliver has been writing poetry for nearly five decades, and in that time she has become America's foremost poetic voice on our experience of the physical world. This collection presents forty-two new poems-an entire volume in itself-along with works chosen by Oliver from six of the books she has published since New and Selected Poems, Volume One.
The book presents a heartfelt blend of Mary Oliver's poignant prose and Molly Malone Cook's evocative photography, celebrating their life and love together. Oliver's writing reflects the essence of Cook's artistic vision while offering a glimpse into their shared experiences. This intimate collection serves as a testament to their relationship, highlighting the beauty of their world through both words and images.
A perfect introduction to Mary Oliver’s poetry, this stunning collection features 26 nature poems and prose writings about the birds that played such an important role in the Pulitzer Prize winner’s life. Within these pages you will find hawks, hummingbirds, and herons; kingfishers, catbirds, and crows; swans, swallows and, of course, the snowy owl, among a dozen others-including ten poems that have never before been collected. She adds two beautifully crafted essays, “Owls,” selected for the Best American Essays series, and “Bird,” a new essay that will surely take its place among the classics of the genre.In the words of the poet Stanley Kunitz, “Mary Oliver's poetry is fine and deep; it reads like a blessing. Her special gift is to connect us with our sources in the natural world, its beauties and terrors and mysteries and consolations.”For anyone who values poetry and essays, for anyone who cares about birds, Owls and Other Fantasies will be a treasured gift; for those who love both, it will be essential reading.
Never afraid to shed the pretense of academic poetry, never shy of letting the power of an image lie in unadorned language, Mary Oliver offers us poems of arresting beauty that reflect on the power of love and the great gifts of the natural world. Inspired by the familiar lines from William Wordsworth, “To me the meanest flower that blows can give / Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears,” she uncovers the evidence presented to us daily by nature, in rivers and stones, willows and field corn, the mockingbird’s “embellishments,” or the last hours of darkness.
Mary J. Oliver's debut is an unusual and striking coalescing of prose, poetry, found documents and photographs. It ranges across the history of 20th century England and Canada as she uncovers the life of her father, Jim Neat (b. 1904). She adopts a legal structure, making 'the case' for the worth of Jim's life. Jim leaves England at an early age, as a seaman. He travels to South Africa, stows away to Australia and eventually lands in Canada at the time of the Great Depression. He meets his partner Lizbietta at a bookshop in Saskatoon, but is working in Regina when she dies in childbirth. As a result, Jim becomes both ill and destitute, and is admitted to a hospital in Ontario. His story is told at this point through the hospital's case-notes, his own therapeutic writing and his doctor's correspondence with his sister Queenie, in England. Repatriated to England Jim meets the author's mother during the war. Theirs is a stormy marriage, and at this point she too contributes to the narration. Although they have children and live together until Jim dies in 1983, Jim's life is dominated by the loss of Lizbietta and their child, and the book circles back to Canada and the past as the author uncovers the events surrounding that relationship. Jim Neat is a remarkable evocation of a seemingly fractured life. Although short and drawing on diverse documents Oliver is able to invest an enormous amount of emotion in Jim's relationships, including that with her. The narrative has a certain exoticism - hobos in Canada, a pet fox, extreme weather and its results - but also a casual brutality in the way it recounts lives at the mercy of indifferent forces. In this it recalls Annie Proulx and Joyce Carol Oates, and doesn't suffer in comparison
Mary Oliver's poetry embraces the beauty of nature and the profound impact of love through simple yet powerful language. Drawing inspiration from Wordsworth, she reveals the deep emotions evoked by everyday elements of the natural world, such as rivers, stones, and the songs of mockingbirds. Her work celebrates the gifts of nature, encouraging readers to find meaning and reflection in the ordinary moments that surround them.
Featuring sixty-one poems, this collection showcases Mary Oliver's profound appreciation for nature and the relationships in her life. Through her keen observations, she reflects on the beauty of the world and expresses gratitude for her loved ones and her spirited dog, Percy. This volume encapsulates the essence of Oliver's lyrical style, making it a significant addition to her body of work.
