(Restoration Europe) Mary Oliver’s works were influenced from the characteristics of this time period in history and the evidence of romanticism is evident throughout her poems. During this era, romanticism had a focal point on a deep appreciation for the true beauty of nature. Oliver’s physical inspiration for nature came from the “wooded, pond-studded acres that surround her house.” (Gregory) Poets get their
Oliver starts the poem by calling her audience, “you” and pulling them in to listen. The poem does a great job of convincing the reader of their true worth by comparing the lives of troubled people to the simple lives of geese; Mary Oliver makes the reader feel like their problems are not as big. She forces the reader to realize that life goes on around them whether they choose to see it or be enraptured in their
Mary Rowlandson was a remarkable writer whose work tells an important piece of Colonial America’s history. It depicts how English colonists and Native American people of the Massachusetts region misunderstood each other. Her account became popular reading and reads much like a novel with use of descriptive and creative writing, although the language used is a bit difficult for modern readers as it is written in a more formal manner than we are accustomed to today. God’s intervention is ever present throughout the account and she believed that everything that happens to her or to any other human being is caused by God and carries with it a meaning or lesson. God controls all worldly events and determines their outcomes and Rowlandson applied the Puritan principles and ideals during her time as a captive.
As a result of her sufferings, Oliver also turned to nature for inspiration. Mary Oliver’s works focused on her observations in nature, which provided an escape from reality. Mary Oliver’s experiences in life profoundly influenced her poetry’s subjects, themes, and style. On September 10, 1935, Helen M. Vlassak Oliver gave birth to a baby girl whom she named Mary. She was raised in a semi-rural suburb outside of Cleveland in the small town of Maple Heights, Ohio.
Most people will have obstacles in their life, and many of these people say the important thing is how does one deals with them. In Mary Oliver’s poem “Crossing the Swamp” she writes about someone's experience with an obstacle. Oliver's use of vivid imagery and captivating diction reveal the speaker’s complex attitude towards the swamp. The poem paints the swamp as an almost evil entity. The author establishes a dark ominous feel.
In the journey written by Mary Oliver, she writes about the journey one has to take in order to become more aware of who they are as individuals. In order to find themselves, the reader must break away from society's control over their actions and instead find their own inner voice. The speaker in the journey reveals, symbolism, mood, tone, style, and repetition, enjambment, and dictation to captivate the readers. From the beginning of the journey, the speaker introduces us to the sudden realization, that the moment we find our own inner voice, is the exact moment we will know true bliss. However, the speaker wants the readers to act fast, so the speaker constructs the poem to illustrate her message without having to put into words by rushing
Mary Oliver’s lyric poem, “The Journey”, is an engaging and uplifting depiction of the slow yet crucial and significant path to individuality. Written in succinct free-verse and strewn with images illustrating the obstacles and hardships that fill one’s life, along with images portraying the eventual surmount of these afflictions, “The Journey” provides readers with a sense of hope that one day they will find their voice, their identity. Through the use of compelling visual and metaphorical imagery, contradicting tones, repetition, and simple diction, Oliver leads the reader to conclude that the journey to individuality is both demanding and rewarding. Oliver begins the poem by immediately highlighting the eventual acknowledgement of the persona’s need to strive for individuality as well as the depth of the ongoing pressures and challenges that come with doing so, developing a dismal yet almost optimistic tone. In order to focus on the enduringly long time that it took before the persona accumulated the power to know “what you had to do,” Oliver uses the voice of the persona.
Obviously, her poems spoke her truth and were very detailed in the sense that she wrote from the heart. She chose to write without a filter in front of her and wrote what she really believed was right. Another heavy influence in her work was the concept of living life to the fullest. In her poems, it was obvious that she did not intend on wasting any time and rather wanted to make the most of her opportunities. She writes, “I keep on dying, because I love to live,” in her poem “The Lesson.” Lastly, Angelou commonly wrote about her internal struggles through life.
It features Owen 's often famed pararhyme –sun, sown; star, stir; tall, toil – which disturbs the natural rhythm and gives the poem a slightly tortured mood. When read aloud it demands to be read slow, with emphasis on the last syllables of every line, giving it a melodic yet slightly off metre which adds to the puzzlement the narrator finds himself in. He wonders aloud about the essence of life and finds answers in his own contemplations. The metre allows the poem to be read almost as a monologue of sorts instead of a piece of poetry, by no means diminishing the power of the poem. The title Futility represents the senseless battle of people against fate.
Considering the poem started with a beautiful description of a beach, that can be argued to be how the Earth used to be. Once again in the end of the poem, Arnold discussess love and the world. Arnold is discussing the community of the world in which he lived in at this time. He is begging people to love one another in the world’s name. Arnold just wants this world to be a better place and is pushing that in the underlying tone of “Dover Beach”.