Wild Geese By Mary Oliver

In the essay, Newfoundlandese, If You Please, Diane Mooney (2009) reports that various parts of Newfoundland have different dialects. She explains further that each accent interrelates to early Canadian settlers. The author goes on the explain that each dialect represents a different area in which European immigrants settled. She compares the vast areas accents to different European countries such as France and Ireland. Mooney also believes that religion has a large part in which dialect Newfoundlander’s use. She further explains each side of the province and reiterates how they talk differently. The author makes a point to include a reading by an author by the name of Baldwin. The comparisons she refers to while referencing his work correlate

Construct a close reading of this poem that demonstrates your awareness of the poet’s body of work.

The poem “Mothers and Daughters” is written by Pat Mora. Pat Mora is a contemporary award winning writer, who writes for children, youngsters and adults. She was born in El Paso, TX in the year 1942. She attains a title of a Hispanic writer; however, the most of her poems are in English. In her literary work, one can observe the different aspects of the immigrants’ lives such as language issues, family relationships, immigrants’ experiences and cultural differences (1187).

Like Spring, Wild Geese is written in casual language, but still manages to be stimulating and powerful. It’s rational simplicity truly captures the might of the words that sweep through our hearts to provoke a feeling of unity and tranquillity with nature. This is exactly what Oliver is attempting to portray through her poems, Wild Geese especially, by reminding us that we as a human race are so preoccupied with the melodramatics of life that we fail to see the beauty and wonders surrounding us, and that we should sit back and follow the natural and simple path the non-human world follows.

The writings of Alice Walker has inspired her audience to vision many viewpoints of her life and political circumstances. Walker has been wounded repeatedly, seem to be starting from her childhood, and it remains her calling to bring healing to her own wounds and in the process, to bring healing to others (Winchell 86). Walker uses metaphors and imagery to tell her stories in a way that makes her audience feel as if their living the characters life. In her short stories “The Flowers” Walker writes about a 10 year old girl name Myop, who loses her innocence after seeing a lynch man’s dead body, in the woods behind her parent’s cabin. ‘The Flowers” images the sense of being nearsighted to reality and losing a childhood that can never be replaced. (Walker experienced the loss of her childhood, the same of a disfiguring scar, and social inadequacy, would soon give her a rise, in her writing, to voices with tone of resentment, anger, and to feel again like a little girl) (Royster 349).

“Wild Geese” is very different from many poems written. Oliver’s personal life, the free form of the poem along with the first line, “You do not have to be good,” and the imagery of nature contributes to Oliver’s intent to convince the audience that to be part of the world, a person does not need to aspire to civilization’s standards.

Some believe that birds help express spiritual freedom and psychological liberation with the different colors of birds that are associated with various meanings; specifically the yellow bird means you should keep your guard up. In the novel, The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, John Bartle becomes guarded and isolated because of his internal battles created by his experiences from war. Bartle struggles with the lack of control he has over the events that happen to him in during his time in the military. He fights with his helplessness when he tries to transition to his lifestyle at home. He also cannot control how he changes as a person. When we think of war we think of the physical damage we see on the exterior but what we cannot see is the psychological damage in the interior of a person.

When reading “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver, I imagine the speaker being someone who has been through some dark and hard times. I imagine them as someone who has had to “walk on their knees” for a very long time but has come out of it a stronger person, more in tune with themselves and with nature. The message I get from this poem is one of encouragement. I myself, having been through dark and difficult times it is easy for me to relate to this poem on a deeper level. Knowing from experience, it is difficult to not let the darkness consume you during times of suffering and depression, and it is almost impossible to not feel alone. While this poem recognizes those feelings, it also brings hope to the reader. No, suffering does not have to last forever, nobody is completely alone in this world, and we all have a place here on this planet.

In every home, there is a different definition of family and how family should treat each other. Two short stories were read by an author named Flannery O’Connor. “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. It was about a dysfunctional family who encounters a criminal named “The Misfit”. The grandmother which is the main character is very judgmental towards others and sometimes her own family at times. This story starts off with a disagreement on where to go for a family trip, but they decide on going to Florida for the family trip after a while of arguing. On this trip, it showed what type of family they are. They talk about everything with one another as well as bicker and fight but at the end of the day, they are still family and love each other. They come together the most in panicking situations such as the accident and waiting for a car to help them. The point of this paper is the theme of family. Specifically, family is a theme in this short story because it depicts a dysfunctional family; the family you see on a crazy television show and can’t get enough of because they’re funny but also they have serious moments. There 's the two troublesome and annoying kids, the hot-headed dad who tries to maintain control of a situation and fails, the wife busy attending to the baby, and the grandmother, who 's a case all to herself (and also the main character). Though the story starts out seeming like a comedy, it takes a serious turn when the family encounters a criminal, who kills them

Therefore, the poem “Wild Geese”, connects both the natural and human worlds, demonstrating that the

The other deciding factor was I found this poem easy to read at a nice steady pace with rhythm, rhyme and minimal variations in pitch and volume required. The poet refers to himself in a third person; therefore, leads me to believe he was pondering life within his thoughts, rather than actually speaking aloud. The words came across as random thoughts, a daydream of sorts. Therefore, with just slight

The story “The Fly,” n by Katherine Mansfield in 1922, paints the picture of an old man who referred to as the boss, who is grieving from some sort of tragic event that happened to him. Continuing to read through the story, the narrator goes on to inform the reader that the boss’ son was killed in World War I, and that the boss is still reeling from the death of his son. From a little hinted symbolism we can connect that the fly itself represents the grief that the boss is going through, while the inkwell and life are two of the same, and that the ink blots are the boss’ attempts at trying to fight the grief that has overcome his life due to the tragic event that transpired.

In the short story, “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield, a controlling boss is puzzled when he cannot weep over the death of his son. The boss enjoys being in power and in turn, sadistically murders an innocent fly. In “The Fly,” Mansfield tells a story of a controlling and prideful boss who cannot accept that he has moved on after his son’s death, while using symbolism to further explain the story.

Coping with the death of a beloved family member can be hard on the best of people. Coping may take time and following the steps of the grieving process which include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The most important step in coping with any loss is the final stage of acceptance. In the short story, “The Fly” by Katherine Mansfield, the boss experiences the tragic loss of his son which causes him to fall into a deep depression and, by killing an innocent fly, he learns the power of acceptance.

After reading this poem, my overall impression of the format, the tone, and the content of the poem has helped me to have a better understanding of the struggles that we go through in life. Sometimes we encounter obstacles and