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Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
in 1984 and the
National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
in 1992. She found inspiration for her work in nature and had a lifelong habit of solitary walks in the wild. Her poetry is characterized by wonderment at the natural environment, vivid imagery, and unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared the best-selling poet in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.


Early life

Mary Oliver was born to Edward William and Helen M. Oliver on September 10, 1935, in Maple Heights, Ohio, a semi-rural suburb of
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. Her father was a
social studies In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as ...
teacher and athletics coach in the Cleveland public schools. As a child, she spent a great deal of time outside, going on walks or reading. In an interview with the
Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper b ...
in 1992, Oliver said of growing up in Ohio:
It was pastoral, it was nice, it was an extended family. I don't know why I felt such an affinity with the natural world except that it was available to me. That's the first thing. It was right there. And for whatever reasons, I felt those first important connections, those first experiences being made with the natural world rather than with the social world.
In a 2011 interview with
Maria Shriver Maria Owings Shriver ( ; born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist, author, a member of the prominent Shriver and Kennedy families, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's M ...
, Oliver called her family dysfunctional, adding that though her childhood was very hard, writing helped her create her own world. Oliver revealed in the interview that she had been sexually abused as a child and had experienced recurring nightmares. Oliver began writing poetry at the age of 14. She graduated from the local high school in Maple Heights. In the summer of 1951, at age 15, she attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, now known as Interlochen Arts Camp, where she was in the percussion section of the National High School Orchestra. At 17, she visited the home of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyric poetry, lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted Feminism, feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. ...
, in Austerlitz, New York,Poetry Foundation Oliver biography
. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
Duenwald, Mary. (July 5, 2009.)

. ''New York Times''. Retrieved September 7, 2010.
where she formed a friendship with the late poet's sister Norma. Oliver and Norma spent the next six to seven years at the estate organizing Edna St. Vincent Millay's papers. Oliver studied at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
and
Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...
in the mid-1950s but did not receive a degree at either college.


Career

Oliver worked at '' Steepletop'', Edna St. Vincent Millay's estate, as secretary to the poet's sister. Her first collection of poems, ''No Voyage, and Other Poems'', was published in 1963, when she was 28.Mary Oliver's bio at publisher Beacon Press (note that original link is dead; see version archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20090508075809/http://www.beacon.org/contributorinfo.cfm?ContribID=1299 ; retrieved October 19, 2015). During the early 1980s, Oliver taught at
Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...
. Her fifth collection of poetry, ''American Primitive'', won the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...
for Poetry in 1984. She was Poet In Residence at
Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...
(1986) and Margaret Banister Writer in Residence at
Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's liberal arts college in Sweet Briar, Amherst County, Virginia, Amherst County, Virginia. It was established in 1901 by Indiana Fletcher Williams in ...
(1991), then moved to
Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...
, where she held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching at
Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont, United States. Founded as a women’s college in 1932,
until 2001. She won the
Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organizatio ...
and the L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award for ''House of Light'' (1990), and ''New and Selected Poems'' (1992) won the
National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...
. Oliver's work turns to nature for inspiration and describes the sense of wonder it instilled in her. "When it's over" she wrote, "I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms" ("When Death Comes" from ''New and Selected Poems''). Her collections ''Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems'' (1999), ''Why I Wake Early'' (2004), and ''New and Selected Poems, Volume 2'' (2004) build the themes. The first and second parts of ''Leaf and the Cloud'' are featured in '' The Best American Poetry''
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
and
2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...
, and her essays appear in '' Best American Essays'' 1996, 1998, and 2001. Oliver was the editor of the 2009 edition of '' Best American Essays.''


Poetic identity

Oliver's poetry is grounded in memories of
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
and her adopted home of
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
. Provincetown is the principal setting for her work after she moved there in the 1960s. Influenced by both Whitman and Thoreau, she is known for her clear and poignant observations of the natural world. According to the 1983 Chronology of American Literature, her collection ''American Primitive'' "presents a new kind of Romanticism that refuses to acknowledge boundaries between nature and the observing self." Nature stirred her creativity, and Oliver, an avid walker, often pursued inspiration on foot. Her poems are filled with imagery from her daily walks near her home: shore birds, water snakes, the phases of the moon, and humpback whales. In ''Long Life'', she writes, " go off to my woods, my ponds, my sun-filled harbor, no more than a blue comma on the map of the world but, to me, the emblem of everything." She once said: "When things are going well, you know, the walk does not get rapid or get anywhere: I finally just stop and write. That's a successful walk!" She said she once found herself walking in the woods with no pen and later hid pencils in the trees so she would never be stuck like that again. Oliver often carried a 3-by-5-inch hand-sewn notebook for recording impressions and phrases. Maxine Kumin called her "a patroller of wetlands in the same way that Thoreau was an inspector of snowstorms."Kumin, Maxine. "Intimations of Mortality". ''Women's Review of Books'' 10: April 7, 1993, p. 16. Oliver said her favorite poets were
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...
,
Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...
, Hafez,
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
,
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...
, and
John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...
. Oliver was also compared to
Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...
, with whom she shared an affinity for solitude and inner monologues. Her poetry combines dark introspection with joyous release. Though criticized for writing poetry that assumes a close relationship between women and nature, she found that the self is only strengthened through immersion in the natural environment.Graham, p. 352 Oliver is also known for her straightforward language and accessible themes.Oliver Biography
. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
The ''Harvard Review'' describes her work as an antidote to "inattention and the baroque conventions of our social and professional lives. She is a poet of wisdom and generosity whose vision allows us to look intimately at a world not of our making." In 2007, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called Oliver "far and away, this country's best-selling poet."Garner, Dwight. (February 18, 2007.)
Inside the List
. ''New York Times''. Retrieved September 7, 2010.


Personal life

On a visit to Austerlitz in the late 1950s, Oliver met photographer Molly Malone Cook, who became her partner for over 40 years. In ''Our World,'' a book of Cook's photos and journal excerpts Oliver compiled after Cook's death, Oliver writes, "I took one look t Cookand fell, hook and tumble." Cook was Oliver's literary agent. They made their home largely in
Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...
, where they lived until Cook's death in 2005, and where Oliver continued to live until moving to Florida. Of Provincetown, she said: "I too fell in love with the town, that marvelous convergence of land and water; Mediterranean light; fishermen who made their living by hard and difficult work from frighteningly small boats; and, both residents and sometime visitors, the many artists and writers. ..M. and I decided to stay." Oliver valued her privacy and gave very few interviews, saying she preferred for her writing to speak for itself.


Death

In 2012, Oliver was diagnosed with
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
, but was treated and given a "clean bill of health." Oliver died of
lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...
on January 17, 2019, at the age of 83.


Critical reception

In the ''Women's Review of Books'', Maxine Kumin called Oliver an "indefatigable guide to the natural world, particularly to its lesser-known aspects." Reviewing ''Dream Work'' for ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', critic Alicia Ostriker numbered Oliver among America's finest poets: "visionary as Emerson .. she isamong the few American poets who can describe and transmit ecstasy, while retaining a practical awareness of the world as one of predators and prey." ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reviewer Bruce Bennetin wrote that ''American Primitive'' "insists on the primacy of the physical" and Holly Prado of ''Los Angeles Times Book Review'' wrote that it "touches a vitality in the familiar that invests it with a fresh intensity." Vicki Graham suggests Oliver oversimplifies the affiliation of gender and nature: "Oliver's celebration of dissolution into the natural world troubles some critics: her poems flirt dangerously with romantic assumptions about the close association of women with nature that many theorists claim put the woman writer at risk." In her article "The Language of Nature in the Poetry of Mary Oliver", Diane S. Bond writes, "few feminists have wholeheartedly appreciated Oliver's work, and though some critics have read her poems as revolutionary reconstructions of the female subject, others remain skeptical that identification with nature can empower women." In ''The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review'', Sue Russell wrote, "Oliver will never be a balladeer of contemporary lesbian life in the vein of Marilyn Hacker, or an important political thinker like
Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...
; but the fact that she chooses not to write from a similar political or narrative stance makes her all the more valuable to our collective culture."


Selected awards and honors

*1969/70 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. * 1980 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship * 1984
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award came five years after the first Pulitzers were awarded in other categories; Joseph Pulitzer's will had not ment ...
for ''American Primitive''"Poetry: Past winners & finalists by category
. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
* 1991 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award for ''House of Light'' * 1992 National Book Award for Poetry for ''New and Selected Poems''National Book Awards–1992
.
National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established with the goal "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America." Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: ...
. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
* 1998 Lannan Literary Award for poetry * 1998 Honorary Doctorate from The Art Institute of Boston * 2003 Honorary membership into
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. * 2007 Honorary Doctorate
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
* 2008 Honorary Doctorate
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...
* 2012 Honorary Doctorate from
Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...
* 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Poetry for ''A Thousand Mornings''


Works


Poetry collections

*1963 ''No Voyage, and Other Poems'' Dent (New York, NY), expanded edition, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1965. *1972 ''The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems'' Harcourt (New York, NY) *1978 ''The Night Traveler'' Bits Press *1978 ''Sleeping in the Forest'' Ohio University (a 12-page chapbook, p. 49–60 in The Ohio Review—Vol. 19, No. 1 inter 1978 *1979 ''Twelve Moons'' Little, Brown (Boston, MA), *1983 ''American Primitive'' Little, Brown (Boston, MA) *198
''Dream Work''
Atlantic Monthly Press (Boston, MA) *1987 ''Provincetown'' Appletree Alley, limited edition with woodcuts by Barnard Taylor *1990 ''House of Light''
Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...
(Boston, MA) *1992 ''New and Selected Poems'' olume oneBeacon Press (Boston, MA), *199
''White Pine: Poems and Prose Poems''
Harcourt (San Diego, CA) *199
''Blue Pastures''
Harcourt (New York, NY) *199
''West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems''
Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA) *199
''Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems''
Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA) *200
''The Leaf and the Cloud''
Da Capo (Cambridge, Massachusetts), (prose poem) *200
''What Do We Know''
Da Capo (Cambridge, Massachusetts) *2003 ''Owls and Other Fantasies: poems and essays'' Beacon (Boston, MA) *200
''Why I Wake Early: New Poems''
Beacon (Boston, MA) *2004 ''Blue Iris: Poems and Essays'' Beacon (Boston, MA) *2004 ''Wild geese: selected poems'', Bloodaxe, *200
''New and Selected Poems, volume two''
Beacon (Boston, MA) *2005 ''At Blackwater Pond: Mary Oliver Reads Mary Oliver'' (audio cd) *2006 ''Thirst: Poems'' (Boston, MA) *2007 ''Our World'' with photographs by Molly Malone Cook, Beacon (Boston, MA) *200
''The Truro Bear and Other Adventures: Poems and Essays''
Beacon Press, *200
''Red Bird''
Beacon (Boston, MA) *200
''Evidence''
Beacon (Boston, MA) *201
''Swan: Poems and Prose Poems''
(Boston, MA) *2012 ''A Thousand Mornings'' Penguin (New York, NY) *2013 ''Dog Songs'' Penguin Press (New York, NY) *2014 ''Blue Horses'' Penguin Press (New York, NY) *2015 ''Felicity'' Penguin Press (New York, NY) *2017 ''Devotions'' The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver Penguin Press (New York, NY)


Non-fiction books and other collections

*199
''A Poetry Handbook''
Harcourt (San Diego, CA) *199
''Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse''
Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA) *200
''Long Life: Essays and Other Writings''
Da Capo (Cambridge, Massachusetts) *201
''Upstream: Selected Essays''
Penguin (New York, NY)


Works in translation

Catalan *2018 Ocell Roig (translated by Corina Oproae
Bilingual Edition. Godall Edicions.


See also

* Poppies, poem by Mary Oliver * In Blackwater Woods, poem by Mary Oliver * Lesbian Poetry


References


Sources

*Bond, Diane. "The Language of Nature in the Poetry of Mary Oliver." ''Womens Studies'' 21:1 (1992), p. 1. *Graham, Vicki. "'Into the Body of Another': Mary Oliver and the Poetics of Becoming Other." ''Papers on Language and Literature'', 30:4 (Fall 1994), pp. 352–353, pp. 366–368. *McNew, Janet. "Mary Oliver and the Tradition of Romantic Nature Poetry". ''Contemporary Literature'', 30:1 (Spring 1989). *"Oliver, Mary." ''American Environmental Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present'', Anne Becher, and Joseph Richey, Grey House Publishing, 2nd edition, 2008. ''Credo Reference.'' *Russell, Sue. "Mary Oliver: The Poet and the Persona." '' The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review'', 4:4 (Fall 1997), pp. 21–22. *"1992." ''The Chronology of American Literature'', edited by Daniel S. Burt, Houghton Mifflin, 1st edition, 2004. ''Credo Reference.''


External links


Official websiteMary Oliver at the Academy of American PoetsBiography and poems of Mary Oliver
at the Poetry Foundation.
Interview
with Krista Tippett, "On Being" radio program, broadcast 5 February 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Mary 1935 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American LGBTQ poets American lesbian writers American women academics American women poets Bennington College faculty Bucknell University faculty Deaths from lymphoma in Florida LGBTQ people from Ohio Lesbian academics National Book Award winners Poets from Ohio People from Cuyahoga County, Ohio Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners Ohio State University alumni Sweet Briar College faculty Vassar College alumni