Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was an American poet whose accessible nature poetry examined attention to the natural world. Her work invited readers to observe closely the ordinary aspects of nature - grasshoppers, bears, wild geese. She suggested that sustained attention to nature can cultivate direct experience of interconnection.
Oliver’s poetry presented birds, flowers, trees, and animals as subjects that reveal patterns of existence. Her question “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” from “The Summer Day” has become widely known. She proposed that humans are participants in natural processes rather than separate observers.
Through simple language and observation, Oliver’s poetry made nature poetry accessible to wide audiences. Her accessible style brought contemplative awareness of nature to readers who might not engage with environmental philosophy. She taught at institutions including Bennington College and received numerous awards.
Oliver won the Pulitzer Prize for American Primitive (1983) and the National Book Award for New and Selected Poems (1992). Her poetry collections sold widely, with Devotions: The Selected Poems (2017) becoming particularly popular. She published over fifteen volumes of poetry and several books of prose.
As both a solitary observer in forests and swamps and a poet who communicated her observations, Oliver’s work demonstrated how attention to natural phenomena can inform human understanding.
Key Concepts
- Attention as Practice: Sustained observation of nature
- Ordinary Miracles: Recognition of significance in everyday natural phenomena
- Nature as Teacher: Learning from close observation of plants and animals
- Wild and Precious Life: Living consciously within natural processes
Essential Works
- “American Primitive” (Little, Brown, 1983) - ISBN 978-0-316-65003-7 - Pulitzer Prize
- “New and Selected Poems” (Beacon Press, 1992) - ISBN 978-0-8070-6882-5 - National Book Award
- “Wild Geese: Selected Poems” (Bloodaxe Books, 2004) - ISBN 978-1-85224-661-5
- “Devotions: The Selected Poems” (Penguin Press, 2017) - ISBN 978-0-399-56326-7
- “Upstream: Selected Essays” (Penguin Press, 2016) - ISBN 978-1-59420-602-6
Selected Quotes
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. — “Wild Geese” (1986)
Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life? — “The Summer Day” (1990)
To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work. — “Yes! No!” (1997)
Instructions for living a life: / Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it. — “Sometimes” (2004)
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. / I do know how to pay attention. — “The Summer Day” (1990)
Every day I see or I hear something that more or less kills me with delight. — “Mindful” (2004)
Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable. — “Evidence” (2009)
The world offers itself to your imagination. — “Spring Azures” (2005)
Further Reading
Biographical Sources
Key Books
- American Primitive (Little, Brown, 1983) - ISBN 978-0-316-65003-7
- New and Selected Poems (Beacon Press, 1992) - ISBN 978-0-8070-6882-5
- Devotions: The Selected Poems (Penguin Press, 2017) - ISBN 978-0-399-56326-7
Related Resources
- Audio recordings of Oliver reading her work
- Critical essays on Oliver’s nature poetry