mary oliver new and selected poems volume 1

Smith, Shenandoah 'These are life enhancing and redemptive poems that coax the sublime from the subliminal.'-Sally Connolly, Poetry 'Mary Oliver's poetry is fine and deep it reads like a blessing. She continues to earn applause and admiration for continuing to provide redemptive mediation and supple praises for nature in a time when so much is under threat.'-R. It is a true spell, unlike any other poet's, the enchantment of the true maker.'-James Dickey 'Oliver's often quiet persona almost always rides a storm of discovery. Praise for the poetry of Mary Oliver: 'Far beneath the surface-flash of linguistic effect, Mary Oliver works her quiet and mysterious spell. She is among our finest poets, and still growing.' In both the older and new poems, Mary Oliver is a poet at the height of her control of image and language. In the words of Alicia Ostriker, 'Mary Oliver moves by instinct, faith, and determination. This graceful volume, designed to be paired with New and Selected Poems, Volume One, includes new poems on birds, toads, flowers, insects, bodies of water, and the extraordinary experience of the everyday in our lives. And all the while, during her quest, she is constantly surprised and fortified by joy. Oliver's search grows and is informed by experience, meditation, perception, and discernment.

In poem after poem, her investigations go from the humble green bean that nourishes her and makes her wonder if something/-I can't name it-watches as I walk the/rows, accepting the gift of their lives/to assist mine to the vast, untouchable bliss of things you can't reach./But you can reach out to them, and all day long./The wind, the bird flying away./The idea of God.

Mary Oliver is always searching for the soul of things. Now recognized as an unparalleled poet of the natural world, Mary Oliver writes with unmatched dexterity and a profound appreciation for the divergence and convergence of all living things. Understand, I am always trying to figure out what the soul is, and where hidden, and what shape- New and Selected Poems, Volume Two, an anthology of forty-two new poems-an entire volume in itself-and sixty-nine poems hand-picked by Mary Oliver from six of her last eight books, is a major addition to a career in poetry that has spanned nearly five decades.

Mary oliver new and selected poems volume 1