But also the universe is brisk and businesslike, and no doubt does not give its delicate landscapes or its thunderous displays of power, and perhaps perception, too, for our sakes or our improvement.

Upstream: Selected Essays - Kindle edition by Oliver, Mary

As she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, finding solace and safety within the woods, and the joyful and rhythmic beating of wings, Oliver intimately shares with her readers her quiet discoveries, boundless curiosity, and exuberance for the grandeur of our world. Oliver’s poetry focused on the quiet of occurrences of nature: industrious hummingbirds, egrets, motionless ponds, “lean owls / hunkering with their lamp-eyes.

It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching until it comes to that certainty which it aspires to, but does not necessarily have at once. As with the poetry for which Oliver is best known, this is a quiet, reflective, and soulful book best savored rather than rushed. This is a selection of essays, written in a beautiful and abstract style, concerning a variety of topics; from the history of Emmerson, the laying of turtle eggs in the sand, Poe’s concern over the uncertainty of the universe and the adventures of a common house spider.

Mary Oliver Quotes (Author of A Thousand Mornings) - Goodreads Mary Oliver Quotes (Author of A Thousand Mornings) - Goodreads

I walked, all one spring day, upstream, sometimes in the midst of the ripples, sometimes along the shore.Complement it with Oliver on love and its necessary wildness, what attention really means, and the measure of a life well lived, then revisit Jane Hirshfield on the difficult art of concentration. The world sheds, in the energetic way of an open and communal place, its many greetings, as a world should. I need a moment, more than a moment, in the steady and profound company of Mary Oliver and I think you might need one too. Throw in Wordsworth from Jolly Olde and you have four heavyweights for MO to analyze at her leisure and yours.

Upstream: Selected Essays - Mary Oliver - Google Books Upstream: Selected Essays - Mary Oliver - Google Books

In addition to her numerous literary prizes, as noted by the New York Times, Oliver was “far and away, this country’s best-selling poet. com affiliate programs, designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to books. the social self, “fettered to a thousand notions of obligation”; and a third self, a sort of otherworldly awareness. The world seems to spin too fast for us to slow down, but slowing down is just the thing that would help us find our footing.For TLC straight to your inbox + life-affirming words I don't share anywhere else, just say the word.