Summary
"Poppies" is an inner dialogue poem written by Mary Oliver. The poem is focused on elements of nature, a common thread within Oliver's poetry, and calls readers to focus on the instruction that nature might supply.[1][2][3]
Synopsis and structure edit
The poem is heterometric in nature; its lines switch between iambic and trochaic trimeter, tetrameter, and dimeter. It is divided into nine distinct stanzas, each stanza as a quatrain with four lines. There are a total of thirty-six lines in the entire poem. There are five distinct sections to the poem, each turn is given through the use of a period at the end of the section.[citation needed]
Publication history edit
"Poppies" has been published in two poetry compilations. The first, New and Selected Poems: Volume One, was released in 1992 through Beacon Press. A second, Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver, was published in 2017 through Penguin Press. Reviews for both collections were positive and the books received praise from Stephen Dobyns of The New York Times Book Review, Rita Dove, of The Washington Post, and Elizabeth Lund, also of The Washington Post, among others.[4][5][6]
Further reading edit
- Macdonald, N. K. (2011). Flourishing as Productive Paradox in Mary Oliver’s Poetry (Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy). University of Otago.
References edit
- ^ Kelly, Joseph (2018). The Seagull Book of Poems. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 243–244. ISBN 9780393631623.
- ^ Burton-Christie, Douglas (1996). "Nature, Spirit, and Imagination in the Poetry of Mary Oliver". CrossCurrents. 46 (1): 77–87. ISSN 0011-1953. JSTOR 24459404.
- ^ Davis, Todd (2009). "The Earth as God's Body: Incarnation as Communion in the Poetry of Mary Oliver". Christianity & Literature. 58 (4): 605–624. doi:10.1177/014833310905800408. ISSN 0148-3331.
- ^ Oliver, Mary (2013). New and Selected Poems, Volume One. Beacon Press. ISBN 9780807097151.
- ^ Lund, Elizabeth (November 17, 2017). "The Best Poetry Collections of 2017". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ Barber, David (1993). "Review of New and Selected Poems". Poetry. 162 (4): 233–237. ISSN 0032-2032. JSTOR 20603661.