Wild Geese Mary Oliver Essay

Nevertheless, in the poem ‘Nesting time’, Stewart interprets a personal experience in first person of the appearance of a bird that lands upon his daughter and forgets the thought of the harsh world. Stewart’s descriptive language repeatedly explains the poem as if seen in his viewpoint, beginning with an interjection, ‘oh’ communicating of his incredulity of an ‘absurd’ bird. Symbolizing the bird with strong coloured imagery its ‘mossy green, sunlit’, described to be bright and joyful, with sweetness shown with the type of bird, ‘honey-eater’, Douglas Stewart takes the time to describe its admiration juxtaposed to the dangerous world surrounding it. While visualizing the birds actions, ‘pick-pick-pick’ of alliteration and repetition of its

Author, Henry David Thoreau and Mary Oliver are both very passionate about nature and what it has to offer in life, as well as the symbolism behind nature and its creatures in their works of literature, in “Walden”, and “The House of Light”, Both authors discuss their views of nature and the beauty of the world that they want to make familiar to their audience. In this essay, I’ll provide my reasoning behind this statement.

The poem The Great Scarf of Birds by John Updike is something of a chronological piece that walks the reader through a day beginning with a normal day of golf that leads to a witness of nature’s beauty and a heart-wrenching, bleak statement of self discovery. The organization of the poem is purely time-based, using cues such as the tinting of the sky to exhibit a passage of time. The diction of the poem is mostly delicate language rife with imagery to try and show the reader the extent of the feelings of wonder that the narrator is holding for nature at this time. Uses of phrases such as “swaying vases of sky,” show the author’s rich language used to describe their surroundings. There is also a line that displays the intensity the author has for the image of the swelling flock above him, “It dartingly darkened in spots darkened in spots paled,pulsed, compressed,distended yet held an identity firm.” This line is set up to be read fast, the closeness of the words leading with hard syllables leads you feel the shock that the narrator is at the sight of the massive, awe inducing flock.

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

In his poem “The Great Scarf of Birds”, John Updike uses a flock of birds to show that man can be uplifted by observing nature. Updike’s conclusion is lead up to with the beauty of autumn and what a binding spell it has on the two men playing golf. In Updike’s conclusion and throughout the poem, he uses metaphors, similes, and diction to show how nature mesmerizes humans.

Life can feel like lounging on the sand, staring into the cities of roses, however, with such happiness comes a deep, cruel truth called death. In this passage, Oliver’s style conveys the complexity of her response to nature by the double-meaning between the owl, the lie behind the “immobilizing happiness”, and the cold truth of these roses. Oliver’s style strives to show how nature is all but an illusion of life and death.

Glenn Irwin’s “Two Butterflies” demonstrates a movement in age and development of experience through the images of two distinct butterflies. The ideas Irwin articulates about age and experience with this imagery also serve to show the disconnect between nature and civilization over time. The poem is divided into two stanzas: morning and evening. Likewise, there are two butterflies: morning and evening. The morning butterfly has only just completed his transition stage. He is faced with the beginning of life and the task to make a connection to civilization. The evening butterfly is well into her final life stage. She has gone through the experiences the morning butterfly has not; her connection with civilization has been previously established.

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

“Crossing the Swamp” by Mary Oliver explores the speaker's immersion into a dense marsh in relation to nature’s grandeur. The poem moves as she does, both universally and literally, to emphasize acceptance of having no control over nature’s sublime and autonomy over her outlook when confronting struggle.

Diction affects the tone of the passage. Starting from line 14, the diction evolves into a more negative view. He uses biblical reference towards the beginning of the stanza. He begins to analyze his surroundings more rigorously, and sees the differences in how they look from a distance, to how they appear close by. Once this negative connotation has begun, the flock is said to be “paled, pulsed, compressed, distended, yet held an identity firm” (Lines 20-21). The author’s choice of words as in “less marvelous” (line 25) indicates his intention for making his lines definite, giving it a solid state of meaning. It symbolizes that the feeling of someone longing for something, and once they receive it are not as impressed by it. The diction plays a critical role when the tone of the qualities of nature are exposed. The author conveys the “trumpeting” of the geese as an exaltation to the beauty and simplicity of nature. “A cloud appeared, a cloud of dots like iron filings which a magnet underneath the paper undulates” (Lines 16-18). The iron filings in this phrase symbolize the issues the man faces. Once he looks closely at the flock, he realizes that these issues are only miniscule and do not add up to life in general. This elates him, thus concluding him to lift his heart.

In Jack London's “To Build A Fire” the story follows a man and his dog in the Klondike and their obstacles of trying to get to the boys which are his compatriots. The story revolves around the winter and how mankind reacts to the wild. The author uses nature to illustrate the poem’s tone by vilifying nature and using it as an obstacle.

She gives off a nurturing vibe sou acceptance and its stark contrast to what the last two poems were trying to convey. A lot of what she is saying pushes the “mother” part in “mother nature.” You can see this is apparent when she talks about “the family of things”(line 17) This applies to the maternal idea as well. This imagery really gives you a good idea of the power. With such a deep connection to all the things in the world, it alludes to the idea that the natural world is large and powerful. This entity differs immensely from the last two. However there is a small reference in this poem that holds some similarity. She says “ Meanwhile the world goes on.” This is very similar to the last poems. This statement talks about the indifference and lack of concern he world has. The world is large has this vastness to it and Oliver plays on that too. She paints this visual picture of geese migrating, she lets you imagine this vast sky when she says “Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again.” This builds this vast environment, and gives this natural entity power. That’s what these poems get across. Nature is much more than just environments, ecosystems and food chains. This thought of connecting

The poem “Wild Geese” is an inspiring message to help remind people that they are not alone on this earth and their problems are small in the grand scheme of life. The narrator does accomplish the difficult task of self-improvement in a non-aggressive way. In the beginning if the poem, the tone is a little condescending when the narrator is discussing the necessity of letting go of the problems in life and not basing life on these challenges. The poem is not insulting, though one of the main topics is on getting over self-loathing. Soon the tone turns calm even inspirational when discussing the constant movement of nature and the family relationship of the creatures on earth. This poem inspires, calms, and unites the readers,

This poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson is an exceptional work of his. Entirely characteristic of his poetic approach, it captures the full meaning behind the appreciation of nature, and it does so in a simple yet effective style. The poem is also, in my opinion, an effective rebuttal to the Puritan critique of the Emersonian lifestyle.

Poetry is a literary medium which often resonates with the responder on a personal level, through the subject matter of the poem, and the techniques used to portray this. Robert Frost utilises many techniques to convey his respect for nature, which consequently makes much of his poetry relevant to the everyday person. The poems “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ and “The mending wall” strongly illuminate Frost’s reverence to nature and deal with such matter that allows Frost to speak to ordinary people.