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Blue Pastures
With consummate craftsmanship, Mary Oliver has fashioned fifteen luminous prose on nature, writing, and herself and those around her. She praises Whitman, denounces cuteness, notes where to find the extraordinary, and extols solitude.
114 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 10, 1995
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1172 people want to read
About the author
Mary Oliver
103 books8,823 followersMary 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.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
June 11, 2020
A glorious book of poetry and prose! I feel as if I know the deep workings of Mary Oliver's incredible mind, and a thoroughly thoughtful mind it was. She has dived into that deep ocean of shared consciousness and pulled out some beautiful wisdom. I feel that somewhere, deep in my own subconscious, I have been altered.
September 19, 2021
This is prose by Mary, and of course that still means poetry because she writes so well. The topics are widely varied, but Mary's spirit rings through them all. Almost as awesome as reading her poems.
Quotes:
"Give me that dark moment I will carry it everywhere like a mouthful of rain."
"The new baby is all awash with glory./She has a cry that says 'I'm Here! I'm here!"
Quotes:
"Give me that dark moment I will carry it everywhere like a mouthful of rain."
"The new baby is all awash with glory./She has a cry that says 'I'm Here! I'm here!"
May 1, 2025
I love Oliver’s writing. Her prose is lovely and wise. I thought her perspective on confessional poetry was an interesting take as she does not seem to appreciate it. Considering her great love for Walt Whitman perhaps that’s understandable, though it’s not an opinion I agree with. I did wonder if she had been referring to Sexton and Plath. At any rate it was a wonderful read. I love when she writes about authors as much as I love her writings on nature.
February 26, 2012
This book gave me a fascinating insight into the creative process, or at least the way Mary Oliver thinks the creative process should be. There are pages of thoughts and observations she has throughout her days which she records just to record or in the chance they might generate a poem in the days ahead.
She emphasizes the need for the creative process to be given precedence and the artist being interrupted by others is one thing, worse if allowing oneself to interrupt the process by mundane matters.
"From my way of thinking, Thoreau frequently seems an overly social person."
"I did not think of language as the means to self-description. I thought of it as the door - a thousand opening doors! - past myself. I thought of it as the means to notice, to contemplate, to praise, and, thus, to come into power."
Speaking of the idea that nature is "cute", Oliver writes: "Thus we manage to put ourselves in the masterly way-if nature is full of a hundred thousand things adorable and charming, diminutive and powerless, then who is in the position of power? We are! We are the parents,and the governors. The notion facilitates a view of the world as playground and laboratory, which is a meager view surely. And it is disingenuous, for it seems so harmless, so responsible. But it is neither.
For it makes impossible the other view of nature, which is of a realm both sacred and intricate, as well as powerful, of which we are no more than a single part. Nature, the total of all of us, is the wheel that drives our world; those who ride it willingly might yet catch a glimpse of a dazzling, even a spiritual restfulness, while those who are unwilling simply to hang on, who insist that the world must be piloted by man for his own benefit, will be dragged around and around all the same, gathering dust but no joy."
She emphasizes the need for the creative process to be given precedence and the artist being interrupted by others is one thing, worse if allowing oneself to interrupt the process by mundane matters.
"From my way of thinking, Thoreau frequently seems an overly social person."
"I did not think of language as the means to self-description. I thought of it as the door - a thousand opening doors! - past myself. I thought of it as the means to notice, to contemplate, to praise, and, thus, to come into power."
Speaking of the idea that nature is "cute", Oliver writes: "Thus we manage to put ourselves in the masterly way-if nature is full of a hundred thousand things adorable and charming, diminutive and powerless, then who is in the position of power? We are! We are the parents,and the governors. The notion facilitates a view of the world as playground and laboratory, which is a meager view surely. And it is disingenuous, for it seems so harmless, so responsible. But it is neither.
For it makes impossible the other view of nature, which is of a realm both sacred and intricate, as well as powerful, of which we are no more than a single part. Nature, the total of all of us, is the wheel that drives our world; those who ride it willingly might yet catch a glimpse of a dazzling, even a spiritual restfulness, while those who are unwilling simply to hang on, who insist that the world must be piloted by man for his own benefit, will be dragged around and around all the same, gathering dust but no joy."
February 24, 2022
Prose by poets can be a tricky undertaking, both for writer and reader. I have several beloved poets whose prose, for me, is less pleasurable than their poetry (Stephen Dobyns's fiction comes to mind) - Mary Oliver's prose teeters on that purple edge but her writing skill keeps it from falling over...just. Probably because this isn't a work of fiction but, rather, a series of musings. She stacks the deck with her opening piece 'Of Power and Time' about what, in her opinion, is required to be an artist. She nails it, simply by comparing it with non-artistic professions, giving them their respectful due (in typical Oliver pragmatism she avers that "Most assuredly you want the pilot to be his regular and ordinary self. You want him to approach and undertake his work with no more than a calm pleasure.'
And just like that, she hooked me with her practical thoughts. Oliver isn't looking to laud the artist at the expense of more quotidian professions - she's a realist and recognizes that Somebody has to drive the bus; heck, somebody has to build the bus! She also recognizes that it is unlikely to be the artist who does so - and exhorts us all (but most especially the artist) to be okay with that.
Her essay on her long relationship with the writings of Walt Whitman is powerful - and also gives a glimpse into her unusual upbringing (indulgent parents in a small Ohio town).
This is a slim little book, perfect for a casual reading over time (mine was an essay every couple nights right before sleep - made for interesting dreams). You'll come away seeing the world perhaps a bit differently - just as one does reading Oliver's poetry.
And just like that, she hooked me with her practical thoughts. Oliver isn't looking to laud the artist at the expense of more quotidian professions - she's a realist and recognizes that Somebody has to drive the bus; heck, somebody has to build the bus! She also recognizes that it is unlikely to be the artist who does so - and exhorts us all (but most especially the artist) to be okay with that.
Her essay on her long relationship with the writings of Walt Whitman is powerful - and also gives a glimpse into her unusual upbringing (indulgent parents in a small Ohio town).
This is a slim little book, perfect for a casual reading over time (mine was an essay every couple nights right before sleep - made for interesting dreams). You'll come away seeing the world perhaps a bit differently - just as one does reading Oliver's poetry.
November 23, 2009
If you read anything by Mary Oliver, read this first. It is more than poetry, but the why of poetry, in Oliver's direct and scintillating opinion.
October 4, 2013
Blue Pastures is a compilation of essays, some of them published previously someplace else. They are all about nature, poetry, Mary Oliver and after reading them all, I understood, that she led us into her deepest laboratory of crafting poems. She showed us, where she does it - mostly in nature. She takes walks every morning at dusk and watches nature unfold its beauty, accompanied by her dog and a small notebook with pen. In it she makes notes, and some of those become poems, maybe after 10 years or so. "Creative work needs solitude. It needs concentration, without interruptions. It needs the whole sky to fly in, and no eye watching it until it comes to that certainty which it aspires to, but does not necessarily have at once. Privacy, then. A place apart - to pace, to chew pencils, to scribble and erase and scribble again." I loved the book. It made me really think about poetry a lot and what my sources of it are and it made me wonder if I should start taking walks every morning. But I make Yoga every morning, I meditate, I even write - all of it before I go to work - so I decided I also need some sleep and will take walks when I am old and have more time. The book at times reminded me of Annie Dillards "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek". The same depth, the same respect for everything surrounding us, knowing, that we are all just part of a vaster thing called nature: not more, not less.
April 18, 2007
My favorite excerpt: "I did not give to anyone the responsibility for my life. It is mine, I made it. And can do what I want to with it. Live it. Give it back, someday, without bitterness, to the wild and weedy dunes."
March 21, 2024
What a lovely lady Miss Oliver is hm?
Read
March 21, 2021I spent the most time with “The Poet’s Voice.” Truly an excellent essay on the purpose of writer and writing. She managed to articulate, and perhaps affirm, some things I’ve been wrestling with regarding the role of art in divisive moments. Adding it to my growing list of works helping me to think through philosophies (and theologies?) of reading and writing. (Others include O’Connor, Robinson, L’Engle, Lamott, Didion, Wiman, etc.)
June 3, 2021
Deeply wise and beautifully written. Mary Oliver shares thoughtful mediations and reflections on poetry, the creative process, and nature. I wanted to savour every line.
May 16, 2020
Reading Blue Pastures, I found so many poetic nuggets of wisdom about nature, creativity, and emotion that it got to the point where I was bookmarking nearly every other page. If these don't make you want to read this book, I don't know what will, so here's just a compilation of some of my favorites:
Read for 2020 O.W.L.s Readathon Potions Challenge
"Certainly there is within each of us a self that is neither a child nor a servant of the hours. It is a third self, occasional in some of us, tyrant in others. This self is out of love with the ordinary; it is out of love with time. It has a hunger for eternity."
"Everybody has to have their little tooth of power. Everybody wants to be able to bite."
"When I was young, I was attracted to sorrow. It seemed interesting. It seemed an energy that would take me somewhere. Now I am older, if not old, and I hate sorrow. I see that it has no energy of its own, but uses mine, furtively. I see that it is leaden, without breath, and repetitious, and unsolvable.
"And now I see that I am sorrowful about only a few things, but over and over."
"You must not ever stop being whimsical. And you must not, ever, give anyone else the responsibility for your life."
"Look for verbs of muscle, adjectives of exactitude.
"The idea must drive the words. When the words drive the idea, it's all floss and gloss, elaboration, air bubbles, dross, pomp, frump, strumpeting."
"No poem is about one of us, or some of us, but is about all of us. It is part of a long document about the species. Every poem is about my life but also it is about your life, and a hundred thousand lives to come. That one person wrote it is not nearly so important or so interesting as that it pertains to us all.
Read for 2020 O.W.L.s Readathon Potions Challenge
July 18, 2024
Et tu, Mary? Oliver comes out strongly against autobiographical poetry in a hot take seeking to limit what is or isn't art. Considering that writing autobiographically is a charge most often leveled at poets of color who are instead likely writing a mix of autobiography and fiction as Oliver says about her own poetry, I'm disappointed with this retro take, especially since young poets of color are instructed to "write what [they] know" more often than their white counterparts.
September 13, 2018
Picked up a copy at the library and I could't put it down. I need to get my own copy asap!
July 17, 2022
A lovely glimpse into Oliver's idyllic life in Provincetown, which now seems all but impossible to emulate. It sounds like she spent most of her time taking walks in the woods looking for birds and foxes, revisiting favorite poets (Whitman mostly), and writing. I especially enjoyed the essay about Edna St. Vincent Millay and Oliver's years assisting her sister; somehow she just showed up at the house the day after graduating high school and they just let her stay!
After reading A Poetry Handbook, I've had my fill of Oliver's ideas about the craft and history of poetry. But here, her ideas about the evolving role of "I" in poetry struck me: "If it was really Shelley who stood and listened to the skylark, it was not Shelley in any important sense; he did not mean for me, reading the poem, to be thinking about him listening to the bird; he was entirely willing to vanish, and to let me become the "I." As opposed to much of contemporary poetry where the "I" is used in reference to the author rather than the reader. Oliver's point is incisive—that poetry since Confessionalism has become more self-indulgent and solipsistic, though she only implies this—but she ultimately takes a diplomatic position, asserting that "much is gained; much is lost" in this shift.
Insightful as they are, one can tell from the reluctance to take a stand and the tone of the essay that Oliver did not derive much satisfaction from wading into these academic disputes; consequently, her writing is at its most compelling not when she is discussing different readerly approaches to poetry but when she is enthralled in the circadian miracles of nature. That seems like her happy place and is what brings me back to her essays.
After reading A Poetry Handbook, I've had my fill of Oliver's ideas about the craft and history of poetry. But here, her ideas about the evolving role of "I" in poetry struck me: "If it was really Shelley who stood and listened to the skylark, it was not Shelley in any important sense; he did not mean for me, reading the poem, to be thinking about him listening to the bird; he was entirely willing to vanish, and to let me become the "I." As opposed to much of contemporary poetry where the "I" is used in reference to the author rather than the reader. Oliver's point is incisive—that poetry since Confessionalism has become more self-indulgent and solipsistic, though she only implies this—but she ultimately takes a diplomatic position, asserting that "much is gained; much is lost" in this shift.
Insightful as they are, one can tell from the reluctance to take a stand and the tone of the essay that Oliver did not derive much satisfaction from wading into these academic disputes; consequently, her writing is at its most compelling not when she is discussing different readerly approaches to poetry but when she is enthralled in the circadian miracles of nature. That seems like her happy place and is what brings me back to her essays.
September 27, 2020
Well, I guess I have to start reading poetry now.
This was given to me by a friend to help handle a difficult time. It worked.
Poetry is a blind spot in my reading, but Oliver’s prose in this, a collection of bits and pieces of different types of writing, made me look some of her works up. She’s sublime. I don’t know what makes me like her poems, but reading them brings me peace. In this book and her poems her language is crisp without being harsh or biting. Like the air on a perfect fall day.
This was given to me by a friend to help handle a difficult time. It worked.
Poetry is a blind spot in my reading, but Oliver’s prose in this, a collection of bits and pieces of different types of writing, made me look some of her works up. She’s sublime. I don’t know what makes me like her poems, but reading them brings me peace. In this book and her poems her language is crisp without being harsh or biting. Like the air on a perfect fall day.
Read
July 4, 2022DNF. I read just over half. There was one quote I saw online that made me want to pick this up, but I quickly realized I wasn't interested in the rest. The quote:
"When I was young, I was attracted to sorrow. It seemed interesting. It seemed an energy that would take me somewhere. Now I am older, if not old, and I hate sorrow. I see that it has no energy of its own, but uses mine, furtively. I see that it is leaden, without breath, and repetitious, and unsolvable.
And now I see that I am sorrowful about only a few things, but over and over."
"When I was young, I was attracted to sorrow. It seemed interesting. It seemed an energy that would take me somewhere. Now I am older, if not old, and I hate sorrow. I see that it has no energy of its own, but uses mine, furtively. I see that it is leaden, without breath, and repetitious, and unsolvable.
And now I see that I am sorrowful about only a few things, but over and over."
May 24, 2024
3.5 stars - I enjoy Mary Oliver deeply. I am inspired by her attentiveness and I am challenged by her openness. She was so filled with wonder and it’s astounding to me. Here are a couple of quotes from the last section that I’m honestly sharing more for my own recollection than anything else 😂
“For the poet—as all workers in all artistic disciplines and in all professions—proceeds to the work through education, through trial and correction and advisement, through imitation, through the influence of the ten thousand things that surround any inquisitive mind. Each of us bring to the poem, to the moving pen, a world of echoes.” - pg. 109
“It takes health—and health takes release from the crushing fist of self-concern—for poems to escape their own creator and genesis and belong to the world of shining and useful things.” - pg. 113
“For the poet—as all workers in all artistic disciplines and in all professions—proceeds to the work through education, through trial and correction and advisement, through imitation, through the influence of the ten thousand things that surround any inquisitive mind. Each of us bring to the poem, to the moving pen, a world of echoes.” - pg. 109
“It takes health—and health takes release from the crushing fist of self-concern—for poems to escape their own creator and genesis and belong to the world of shining and useful things.” - pg. 113
April 1, 2021
“I stood willingly and gladly in the characters of everything—other people, trees, clouds. And this is what I learned, that the worlds otherness is antidote to confusion—that standing within this otherness—the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books—can re-dignify the worst-stung heart.”
September 7, 2025
she’s just so good at clearing the fog off your lenses
August 7, 2019
Blue Pastures is not a book I would normally pick up but it is a selection for a book discussion. While it is a book of essays, Blue Pastures focuses on the art of writing poetry. There are essays describing the importance of solitude when creating, but also how an interruption to solitude can help the creative process. Oliver also discusses nature and her opinion of the forest.
Quick read.
Quick read.
April 4, 2020
“When will you have a little pity for every soft thing that walks through the world, yourself included?” (47).
August 18, 2024
I annotated the FUCK out of this one. Idk what I would do without Mary Oliver. The essay: A Few Words fundamentally rewired my brain chemistry and changed my life I think
February 9, 2017
There are some passages or essays here which reoccur in Upstream but perhaps what this book was best for is this: I have finally forgiven/understood Oliver's reading of Whitman and all the power she gives him in her writing. It has been hard until this book not just skip the passages of Whitman. I would r say she won me over to her American romanticism but I am less inclined to roll my eyes at it
September 12, 2008
I got this from the library figuring it would be poetry, but it's actually a book of lyric essays. The very first essay, "Of Power and Time", completely floored me and knocked me on my ass with its beauty and truth. I also really liked the last full essay, "The Poet's Voice". These provided a really good framework for the book and the very different essays in it.
I also absolutely loved "Steepletop", the piece about Edna Millay--I read Nancy Milford's Millay biography a few years ago and adored it. I loved the sense of the beauty and fleetingness of love, and those fragile moments when something might have changed but didn't. I also loved the essay "A Few Words", which is about cuteness, and the things that are not cute. Incredibly terrific. Overall I adored the whole book, and I want my own copy to keep and cherish and read over and over again.
I also absolutely loved "Steepletop", the piece about Edna Millay--I read Nancy Milford's Millay biography a few years ago and adored it. I loved the sense of the beauty and fleetingness of love, and those fragile moments when something might have changed but didn't. I also loved the essay "A Few Words", which is about cuteness, and the things that are not cute. Incredibly terrific. Overall I adored the whole book, and I want my own copy to keep and cherish and read over and over again.
June 19, 2016
My first book by Mary Oliver. I chose this book solely based on the sentence "I have wrestled with the angel and I am stained with light and I have no shame." I figured a book with a sentence like this must be worth reading, and it was.
December 3, 2021
Jaw droppingly beautiful. Mary gives a rich insight that inspires a deeper awareness and unity of the world around us. I love that her prose is seemingly inextricably intertwined with poetry. I want to read it over and over again.
February 18, 2023
I find it hard to stomach when artists (even one I love this much) try to define who is and isn't an artist, or what is and isn't real art. Mary Oliver gets unusually opinionated about Culture in this one.
June 2, 2020
More Mary Oliver needed in my life. This book is lyrical and in touch with nature, a solace for trying times.
March 5, 2022
Her essay about Edna St. Vincent Millay made me want to cry. This book kind of sneaks up on me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews