"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.
Synopsis and structure
The poem is heterometric in nature; its lines switch between
iambic and
trochaic trimeter, tetrameter, and dimeter. It is divided into nine distinct
stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
s, 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.
Publication history
"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
Stephen J. Dobyns (born February 19, 1941) is an American poet and novelist born in Orange, New Jersey.
Life
Dobyns was born on February 19, 1941 in Orange, New Jersey to Lester L., an Episcopal minister, and Barbara Johnston Dobyns. Dobyns was r ...
of ''
The New York Times Book Review,''
Rita Dove'', of
The Washington Post,'' and Elizabeth Lund, also of ''The Washington Post,'' among others''.
''
[{{Cite journal, last=Barber, first=David, date=1993, title=Review of New and Selected Poems, journal=Poetry, volume=162, issue=4, pages=233–237, issn=0032-2032, jstor=20603661]
Further reading
* Macdonald, N. K. (2011)
Flourishing as Productive Paradox in Mary Oliver’s Poetry(Thesis, Doctor of Philosophy). University of Otago.
References
American poems
20th-century poems
Poetry by Mary Oliver