Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

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Spanning more than 50 years and featuring more than 200 poems, the collection shows Oliver, in the early years, turning away from grief and finding in nature a 'vast, incredible gift.

This selection of eleven poems is Mary’s reflections on love, her perceptive participation in the natural world, and her discovery of the things that matter. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. She did occasional stints of teaching elsewhere, but for the most part stayed unusually rooted to her home base. Over time, as she carefully observes and records, Oliver extols the beauty and complexity around her and reminds us of the interconnectedness of living. Her poetry invites in feelings of peace and gladness, in a simple heart felt way that isn’t forced or over exaggerated as some poetry can be.Born in a small town in Ohio, Oliver published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of 28; No Voyage and Other Poems, originally printed in the UK by Dent Press, was reissued in the United States in 1965 by Houghton Mifflin. I need to feel when I read a poem that time and care has gone into the selection of each word, that it's been placed there as carefully as a jeweler with a loupe carefully uses their special tools to place precious gems in their setting. The transition from engaging the natural world to engaging more personal realms was also evident in New and Selected Poems (1992), which won the National Book Award .

In keeping with the title of the collection—one meaning of “devotion” is a private act of worship Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. Here, for instance, we’re over halfway into this short poem before the wild geese which give the poem its title are even mentioned. I selected it because so many people love her and are nourished by her work, and unlike in any other poem in Devotions here she seems to be addressing her critics. By that point, we have been encouraged to embrace the ‘soft animal’ of our body, acknowledging the natural instincts within us, and realising that no matter how lonely we may feel, the world offers itself to us for our appreciation.Oliver’s poems have mostly been inspired by her long walks within the woods and shoreline of Provincetown, Mass. Holly Prado of the Los Angeles Times Book Review also applauded Oliver’s original voice, writing that American Primitive “touches a vitality in the familiar that invests it with a fresh intensity. Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver’s work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. Carefully curated, these 200-plus poems feature Oliver’s work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015.