Wild Geese Analysis Oliver\'s \"Wild Geese\" Mary

Wild Geese Analysis

Oliver's "Wild Geese"

Mary Oliver is an American poet who explores an individual's relationship with nature through her work. Oliver's poetry has been described as "an excellent antidote for the excesses of civilization for too much flurry and 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" (Mary Oliver, n.d.). In "Wild Geese," Oliver uses imagery, content, and form to explore the relationship between an individual and nature.

In "Wild Geese" (1986), Oliver use of imagery helps to establish the bond that she is advocating between individuals and nature. The first six lines of the poem focus on the individual and establish that the individual does "not have to be good" and does "not have to walk on [their] knees/for a hundred miles through the desert repenting" (lines 1-3). These introductory lines do not describe nature, but rather help to demonstrate the only thing that a person has to do is be willing to open themselves and "let the soft animal of your body/love what it loves" (lines 4-5). Oliver makes it a point to state that regardless of an individual's "despairs" the world is a separate entity and will continue to turn. The purity of nature can be seen in the descriptive words that Oliver uses such as "clear pebbles of rain" and "clean blue air" (lines 8, 12). By using "clear" and "clean," Oliver states that nature is pure and that it does not have its despairs like people do, but rather continues to move on. However, Oliver's descriptive language is very limited and she does not go beyond listing natural features such as landscapes, prairies, mountains, and rivers; the only thing in nature, besides the sky and rain that Oliver gives more description to are the "deep trees" (line 10). Perhaps this is to demonstrate the simplicity of nature and juxtapose it against the complexity of life that an individual may experience.

"Wild Geese" also attempts to demonstrate the relationship of an individual to nature through its content. Oliver attempts to show that there is disconnect between people and nature and that they should let go and give in to their natural environments. Oliver contends that it is natural, so to speak, to be part of nature and that it "calls to you like wild geese, harsh and exciting/over and over announcing your place in the family of things" (lines 17-19). Oliver contends that it is individuals that are keeping themselves from nature because they do not "let the soft animal" of their bodies "love what [they] love." Oliver contends that regardless of whom one is, they are only limited by their imagination and that they can do whatever they set their mind to.