Her poems are astute, concise and personal; packed with emotion and imagery supporting the reader's understanding of life beyond and yet within the mundane. Born in a small town in Ohio, Oliver published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of twenty-three. Born in a small town in Ohio, Mary Oliver published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of 28. Oliver's books on the craft of poetry, A Poetry Handbook and Rules for the Dance, are used widely in writing programs.

Below is the 1911 painting by Franz Marc (1880-1916), known originally as Die grossen blauen Pferde, or The Great Blue Horses,, which inspired Oliver's poem.Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit. The horses are the ones to approach Oliver and I think it's key that she says she is 'commingling' with them.

Oliver's poems are thoroughly convincing - as genuine, moving and implausible as the first caressing breeze of spring. Being Christian myself, I do like this idea, but I can also imagine that for non-religious readers that perhaps doesn't strike entirely true. In our final "part" of the poem, Oliver is now surrounded by all four horses and while they can't speak their message, Oliver can perhaps intuit it. The New York Times recently acknowledged Mary Oliver as "far and away, this country's best-selling poet.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. I’ll sip, and sometimes gulp, these poems along with her previous ones, and I’ll trust that she continues to take her long walks with her notebook and pen in her pocket so that soon I’ll have more to savor. Miami HeraldOliver's poems are thoroughly convincing - as genuine, moving and implausible as the first caressing breeze of spring. Herons, sparrows, owls and kingfishers flit across the page in meditations on love, artistry and impermanence.

Yet despite his early death Marc clearly brought some joy to the world, some beauty, something for which Oliver is grateful. The collection will never address masses but it will address reader who seek for proves of power of life and power of humanity.

From 1995, for five years, she held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching at Bennington College. Hotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit. Sign up to the Little, Brown newsletter for news of upcoming publications, competitions and updates from our authors. Publication dates are subject to change (although this is an extremely uncommon occurrence overall). The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter.