Wild Geese Mary Oliver Analysis

Ambivalence can be seen in everyday life while being introduced into new environments. Whether the environment is a war camp or a university, there will be a change in course in which one will have to face the internal struggle of choosing right or wrong with the outcome determining one’s future. In “My First Goose”, Babel demonstrates these conflicts with the relationship between the narrator and his environment. With the narrator, Babel shows the internal conflict of right and wrong while facing the external struggle of fitting in to a foreign but desired environment.

Most poetry authors give their poems abstract titles with deeper meanings within them, but Oliver did not choose to do that method. As soon as a reader sees the title of her poem, they will have an idea in their head of what the poem will be about. Doing this makes it more simple and easier to read, but at the same time relay an important message that Oliver wants readers to know. The poem revolves around the idea of oxygen and the life it brings to everything, and Oliver’s way of directly giving that hint to readers is in the

Imagery is used consistently right through the poem to evoke sensory experiences and to endorse the theme. For instance: ‘A stark white ring-barked forest’-‘the sapphire misted mountains’-‘the hot gold lush of noon’ and many more. All of these appeal to the readers senses and places brilliant visual image(s) in our minds by illuminating the various features of the country, from the perspective of the poems persona. This is attained using; adjectives, ‘the sapphire-misted mountains¬¬¬’, which gives us a picture of mountains with a bluish haze embracing it, this image would thus give an impression of a composed environment and evoke a sense of tranquillity. Additionally by using ‘sapphire’ to illustrate the mist surrounding the mountains we get a sense of Australia’s uniqueness as sapphire is a rare gem. Imagery is also displayed through a metaphor used to appeal to the sense of hearing. For example: ‘the drumming of an army, the steady soaking rain’. Here Mackellar depicts the rain as an army and allows us not only to visualize but get a sense of the sound of the rain, which is presented through the adjective ‘drumming’. This line also presents to us the intensity of the rain again through the adjectives ‘drumming, steady and soaking’.

The appreciation of nature is illustrated through imagery ‘and now the country bursts open on the sea-across a calico beach unfurling’. The use of personification in the phrase ‘and the water sways’ is symbolic for life and nature, giving that water has human qualities. In contrast, ‘silver basin’ is a representation of a material creation and blends in with natural world. The poem is dominated by light and pure images of ‘sunlight rotating’ which emphasizes the emotional concept of this journey. The use of first person ‘I see from where I’m bent one of those bright crockery days that belong to so much I remember’ shapes the diverse range of imagery and mood within the poem. The poet appears to be emotional about his past considering his thoughts are stimulated by different landscapes through physical journey.

The very core of development is change. Sometimes bad, sometimes good, change always leads to a shift in personality. “Crossing the Swamp” by Mary Oliver is a journey of escape as the speaker, who is in a struggle to improve herself, is desperately fighting to come to a place of salvation. The speaker has a relationship of fear and animosity towards the swamp, being a metaphor for the very thing weighing her down, which is equivalent to the relationship of fear and animosity that she has towards the elements in her life that are keeping her from self growth, and is exemplified through her precise diction.

Oliver’s passage is largely constructed with complex sentences, which provide insight into her views of nature. Following her discussion of various types of owls which she is accustomed to seeing and hearing, Oliver connects her experiences of wondering about nature to her own life, stating: “The world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too.” In this example, Oliver’s

Spring reflects a deep communion with the natural world, offering a fresh viewpoint of the commonplace or ordinary things in our world by subverting our expected and accepted views of that object which in turn presents a view that operates from new assumptions. Oliver depicts the natural world as a celebration of wonder and awe, the almost insignificant wonders capturing the true beauty nature beholds.

October, and analyzes the nature around him. At the end of the poem, he states that

In Crossing the Swamp, Mary Oliver exposes human nature to its simplest state; the passion for life present in the natural world transforms the individual by bringing one closer to the sublime. The spirituality teeming in Oliver’s swamp metaphorically represents hidden beauty within the mundane, as a call for shifted perspective and dignified appreciation permeates the passage.

He uses this in the poem to give it rhythm to engage the reader and

Immediately following the first statement, Oliver prompts that “You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.” The senseless wandering in a desert in harsh conditions is similar to the biblical story of Moses leading the Isrealites through the desert before reaching the Promised Land. By writing that the reader does not have to wander as a punishment leads into line four and five, where the speaker asserts that instead of being good, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” Instead of following what other’s want, the speaker proclaims that the only real necessity is to follow what your natural instincts, you animal, want. The speaker also declares inn lines six and seven that while you are talking about your despair, “the world goes on,” which proves that human traits of complaining and listening to others do not bring you closer to nature. In fact, the world continues as if you had not done anything at all. The poem then contrasts inert objects such as “the sun,” “the prairies,” and “the mountains” with objects that appear to be alive and move such as “the clear pebbles of the rain,” “the deep trees,” and “the rivers.” This compares the unmoving appearance of what society wants in the solid features of nature compared to the living and movement that is only sometimes perceived in the rain, trees, and rivers. The comparison can also be

De-Hong helps clean up the carnage cause by all the civil war. When the communists take over the town, they do not pillage, rape, or extort as all the other groups of people had done before them. Many are courteous and kind and

I believe Hailey is the murderer of the goose. There are an endless amount of reasons to why she is the one who is guilty. First of all, she gets everything she wants because her dad is a famous rockstar. For example, Hailey always has the newest phone, gets to meet her favorite celebrities, etc. The one thing she doesn't have is Margie’s popularity which is something her father can't get her. Hailey has tried everything to become popular. She went to great lengths by putting a picture of herself up all over the school. Everything she did was just not working so she decided to take Margie down herself. I believe Hailey murdered the goose and tried to frame Margie. In an interview she said, “Margie hates South Haledon High so I am sure it's

Indeed, even its interaction becomes beauty under this poem. Through the poem, the poet uses features, such us “rain” and “light” to show the beauty of the nature. “Rain drying on the slates shines sometimes”, shows an image of rain on the roof shines like diamonds, crystal clear. This gives the rain a beautiful effect, which the poet wants us to appreciate. So he uses “S” as the beginning and the ending of the word, for example “slates”, “shines” and “sometimes”. The purpose of it is to slow down our reading speed through a literature technique called alliteration (Allan, G. Tutorial Week Nine). The tone of this image is positive as the word “shines” indicated. Another beauty of nature is from the “light”, “his trowel catches the light and becomes precious.” The image is the sun shinning on the manmade tool, which looks like precious gold or silver. The light makes a good effort in this image, as it gives great value to the tool shows by the word “precious”. In fact, just because of the nature world; the beauty of manmade objects can be exposed perfectly. The words “light” and “precious” also bring an uplifting tone for the poem to end on. Although the nature is beauty enough, but the beauty of humanity can also be a part that we cannot ignore. Human intelligence creates plenty of tools, which can be used to make our life more simple. Dunn has focused on this point and praise the intelligence of humanity as beauty. “Television aerials, Chinese characters”, this is the most important manmade tool that appeared in the poem. It uses an unusual metaphor to describe the TV aerials on the roof as Chinese characters, which creates graceful and elegant imagery. This object is given a great value by the poet because of the aerials bringing outside world to our life and let people understand the world

Throughout the poem, it is clear that his focus was not to merely describe, in the form of a detailed account, how he saw the daffodils and their surroundings, but to consider the ways in which they affected how he felt that day and looking back when he reflects on that experience. It has a wistful and nostalgic tone, with a strong feeling of sentiment. The poem begins with a personal feeling of solitariness and despondency with the opening line, "I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills. "