A review by punkhunk
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, by Mary Oliver
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
this collection is the span of Mary Oliver's published literature. it is huge and a bit daunting. it took me four months of consistently reading the book collection by collection to finish it.
overall, it's pretty good. i love her work, and i love nature poetry. she has such a great way with words, and it is fantastic to see how her voice changes over time. some of the poems are a bit lackluster imo, but i still really like it as a whole.
she does mention g-d or "the lord" a lot. i try to take that less literally than she might mean it. im not christian, so i wouldn't be able to relate or understand the kind of diety she is describing anyway. take that for what you will.
i personally think the book should progress from her first work to her more recent work rather than the other way around, but it's her book not mine.
my favorites: wild geese, when i am among the trees, the pond, i own a house, the summer day, just as the calendar began to say summer
overall, it's pretty good. i love her work, and i love nature poetry. she has such a great way with words, and it is fantastic to see how her voice changes over time. some of the poems are a bit lackluster imo, but i still really like it as a whole.
she does mention g-d or "the lord" a lot. i try to take that less literally than she might mean it. im not christian, so i wouldn't be able to relate or understand the kind of diety she is describing anyway. take that for what you will.
i personally think the book should progress from her first work to her more recent work rather than the other way around, but it's her book not mine.
my favorites: wild geese, when i am among the trees, the pond, i own a house, the summer day, just as the calendar began to say summer