Post by Sandy Choi on May 31, 2013 22:13:17 GMT -5
As a child, Mary Oliver rarely found comfort in her own home. She would much rather spend time strolling in the woods of her hometown: Maple Heights, Ohio. Writing poetry was an escape for Mary and kept her mind off of her dysfunctional family. Her greatest inspiration as a young poet was Edna Vincent Millay, a woman's right activist. When Millay passed away, Mary visited Millay’s house and befriended Norma, Edna’s sister. Mary decided to move in with Norma to keep her company and to help sort papers that Edna left behind. During this time Mary met her future partner, Molly Cook and eventually they moved to Provincetown Massachusetts. Mary continued taking strolls and wrote poems based on observations of nature during her walks. She claims her “job is to love the world.”
Although Mary attended Ohio State University and Vassar College, she never received her degree. Instead, she taught college courses at Case Western and Bennington college, where she was given the Catherine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching until 2001. Mary’s first step as a poet was when she published her first collection of poems, No Voyage and Other Poems, in 1963. During her poetry career, she published award winning poetry collections such as New and Selected Poems that won the National Book Award. Her other masterpiece, House of Light won the Christopher Award and the L.L Winship/PEN New England Award. Yet her most prominent achievement was winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her work American Primitive.
Transcendentalism is greatly reflected in Mary’s work because most her poems are centered around lessons she deducts from her observations of nature. Furthermore, she explained in her book “Blue Pastures” three components that she considered vital for a good artist. Firstly, be in solitude because “creative work needs solitude... It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it comes to that certainty which it aspires too.” Secondly, be extraordinary not ordinary. Lastly, be childlike filled with hope and awe. Mary Oliver is amused with such trivial occurrences of nature that she writes about a broad spectrum of different organisms in her poetry, from bears to egrets. “All [her] life / [she] is a bride to amazement. [She was the bridegroom, taking the world into [her] arms.”
Mary Oliver’s style is very short and to the point. Her diction is deliberate and she is able to create strong imagery with a few words. Mary believed poetry must “be understood... [and] clear... not fancy.” Though her poetry may be simple, there is always a lesson to be learned that readers are able to deduct from Mary’s poems.She exposes a new perspective of the ordinary and turns it into something extraordinary.
Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, please give a warm welcome to Ms. Mary Oliver.
Although Mary attended Ohio State University and Vassar College, she never received her degree. Instead, she taught college courses at Case Western and Bennington college, where she was given the Catherine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching until 2001. Mary’s first step as a poet was when she published her first collection of poems, No Voyage and Other Poems, in 1963. During her poetry career, she published award winning poetry collections such as New and Selected Poems that won the National Book Award. Her other masterpiece, House of Light won the Christopher Award and the L.L Winship/PEN New England Award. Yet her most prominent achievement was winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her work American Primitive.
Transcendentalism is greatly reflected in Mary’s work because most her poems are centered around lessons she deducts from her observations of nature. Furthermore, she explained in her book “Blue Pastures” three components that she considered vital for a good artist. Firstly, be in solitude because “creative work needs solitude... It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it comes to that certainty which it aspires too.” Secondly, be extraordinary not ordinary. Lastly, be childlike filled with hope and awe. Mary Oliver is amused with such trivial occurrences of nature that she writes about a broad spectrum of different organisms in her poetry, from bears to egrets. “All [her] life / [she] is a bride to amazement. [She was the bridegroom, taking the world into [her] arms.”
Mary Oliver’s style is very short and to the point. Her diction is deliberate and she is able to create strong imagery with a few words. Mary believed poetry must “be understood... [and] clear... not fancy.” Though her poetry may be simple, there is always a lesson to be learned that readers are able to deduct from Mary’s poems.She exposes a new perspective of the ordinary and turns it into something extraordinary.
Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, please give a warm welcome to Ms. Mary Oliver.