A Dream of Summer: Poems for the Sensuous Season

by Mary Oliver, Robert Atwan (Compiler)

In summer, as Mary Oliver "There are satisfactions beyond number; fishermen get their catch, the food is delicious and real, the sail has just enough wind; the children, in the country at least, play riotously and can hardly be persuaded to remember the necessity of sleep, even when the fireflies are blinking as high as their bedroom windows. Also, the heat makes of neighborhood a genuine thing, people are out on lawns or porches; they are exhausted, happy, beneficent, less ambitious than in any other season, and they are full of the beautiful cloudy stuff of dreams."

A Dream of Summer assembles thirty-seven evocative poems on the experience and joy of summertime. Illustrated throughout with pen-and-ink drawings, this volume focuses on the sensuality of summertime and the varieties of summer experience. It is a love letter to the sultry heat, crashing thunderstorms, endless days, and short, mild nights. Gathered here is work by illustrious poets of the past, among them William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, John Keats, and Alfred Lord Tennyson, as well as more contemporary artists like Louise Gluck, Yusef Komunyakaa, Marge Piercy, and Charles Simic.

Renowned poet Mary Oliver contributes an introduction, musing on this most enchanted and favored of seasons. Other contributors include Sharan Strange, Galway Kinnell, May Sarton, Robert Frost, Louise Bogan, Wallace Stevens, Denise Levertov, Robert Hayden, Derek Walcott, Marge Piercy, and many more. Biographical notes by editor Robert Atwan offer brief lives of each of the poets included in the volume.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Mary Jane Oliver was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard about these seasonal poetry books on an episode of Books by the Nightstand, a podcast I came late too which ended as I was heading in, and one of the host mentioned the winter edition, which I read last winter. I really enjoyed that one and this past spring read that season. So yesterday, on July 4th, I started the summer poetry collection and I just loved it. It brought to life all the emotions and transitions of summer into light. How it is slow pacing and yet vibrant with life. I think summer may be my favorite of these collections.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could you possibly go wrong with a book of poetry that begins with May Sarton, Louise Glück, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and ends with Richard Wilbur, Emily Dickinson, and John Keats? Oh, and this slim volume is also introduced by Mary Oliver, and includes wonderful sketches of birds as well as bees and other insects. (My personal favorite is the butterfly that faces the title page; its face looks to me as if it’s peering slyly out at the reader with a slight smile on its face. Rather unnerving.) Succinct biographies of all of the poets appear at the back, rounding out this thoroughly satisfying collection, which I see is one in a series of seasonal compendiums. A perfect bedside book.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightful small book presents 37 poems each with their own perspective on summer from a diversity of poets, contemporary to Elizabethan, including: May Sarton, Louise Gluck, Tennyson, Whitman, Yusuf Komunyakaa, and Derek Walcott among others. Thoughtfully introduced by Mary Oliver, the book is illustrated with nineteenth century wood engravings of birds and insects.

Don’t miss the brief bios on each poet in the back, which combine pertinent information with a distinct point of view. For example: “With their free floating referents, unsupplied contexts, and labyrinthine visual patterns, John Ashbery’s poems seem to welcome misreadings and compel rereadings.” Or: “Unlike most of the poets included here, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) received no prestigious awards and earned no degrees, but he nevertheless enjoyed financial success and thundering applause...” And: “A reader who would like to enjoy a perfect surrealistic literary experience could do no better than open the 1954 volume of The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens and read the titles listed in the contents straight through as if they were the successive lines of a complete poem.”

“It’s like falling into warm molasses, a dark/ sweetness in which you can barely breathe; it’s like/ being drowned in blackness, thick and moving/ in slow waves around you...” Dark Starry Sticky Night, Missouri, by Carolyn Miller

“Caught Summer is always an imagined time./ Time gave it, yes, but time out of any mind./ There must be prime/ In the heart to beget that season, to reach past rain and find/ Riding the palest days/ Its perfect blaze.” My Father Paints the Summer, by Richard Wilbur

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was lucky enough to find this for a few dollars at a vintage market and i am so happy that i did. this collection encapsulates summer so beautifully and the illustrations are gorgeous. now i must somehow acquire the other 3 books in the series...

[Tiffany Blickhahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found some new poems to check out.

[Maggie Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinda hate the word ~sensuous~ but this was a very pleasant collection. Bonus points for being seasonal

[Lisa Muller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely collection of summer poems by a variety of poets. It's all brought together with an essay by Mary Oliver. I love summer, and I loved this collection. Several "Ahhhhh!" moments!