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New and Selected Poems
New and Selected Poems
Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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About the author
Mary Oliver
105 books8,894 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 123 reviews
February 7, 2009
Every poem in here is perfection, but my favorites are , of course, "Morning Poem" and "Wild Geese." Here's "Wild Geese":
"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
"You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."
June 27, 2009
This was my first book of poetry by Mary Oliver - who has grown to be among my most very favorite poets. Some classics in this collection (most of which are from previously published collections going back to American Primitive) - and each of these has stood up to the test of multiple readings over decades of reading poetry - are:
• When Death Comes
• Rice
• Hummingbird Pauses at Trumpet Vine
• The Buddha's Last Instruction
• The Swan
• The Summer Day
• Maybe (perhaps my most favorite poem about Jesus)
• White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field
• Rage
• Wild Geese (I first heard this poem recited aloud from memory by David Whyte)
• The Journey
Yes, she is the best-selling American poet of all time. This is one of those rare cases where the sum of the extraordinary popularity of the poet plus the widespread general accessibility of the work during her lifetime does not equal celebrity without substance, nor does it indicate reach without depth. She is a most remarkable woman, writer of prose, and poet.
• When Death Comes
• Rice
• Hummingbird Pauses at Trumpet Vine
• The Buddha's Last Instruction
• The Swan
• The Summer Day
• Maybe (perhaps my most favorite poem about Jesus)
• White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field
• Rage
• Wild Geese (I first heard this poem recited aloud from memory by David Whyte)
• The Journey
Yes, she is the best-selling American poet of all time. This is one of those rare cases where the sum of the extraordinary popularity of the poet plus the widespread general accessibility of the work during her lifetime does not equal celebrity without substance, nor does it indicate reach without depth. She is a most remarkable woman, writer of prose, and poet.
February 7, 2008
My brother gave me this book, not knowing that I met Mary Oliver's poems many years before. Some of her poems build toward such a strong last line, that they are still with me today, many years later.
From "The Summer Day": "...Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
Although I reread her books periodically, when I come upon certain poems, it's like meeting an old friend with whom you can pick up the conversation again, seemingly right were you left off years before.
She uses striking images, and turns of phrase. Some of her poems challenge you to look closely at your life and think more deeply, or even to be more, do more...to move forward, somehow. most of her poems are very approachable. I grew up having access to nature in the Poconos Mts. of Pennsylvania, although Oliver's nature is rooted in New England, it is a familiar landscape that she helps one "see anew," and links it to your life, not just nature for nature's sake.
From "The Summer Day": "...Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
Although I reread her books periodically, when I come upon certain poems, it's like meeting an old friend with whom you can pick up the conversation again, seemingly right were you left off years before.
She uses striking images, and turns of phrase. Some of her poems challenge you to look closely at your life and think more deeply, or even to be more, do more...to move forward, somehow. most of her poems are very approachable. I grew up having access to nature in the Poconos Mts. of Pennsylvania, although Oliver's nature is rooted in New England, it is a familiar landscape that she helps one "see anew," and links it to your life, not just nature for nature's sake.
December 17, 2024
always always always always always and forever. my bones belong to mary oliver
December 26, 2016
Review to come.
February 11, 2026
i am so in awe and always will be of Mary Oliver’s prose and poetry. the way she writes makes it seem like she was made to be a poet, but the content of her works makes it clear she was not made to do anything except enjoy beauty and the wild and simply live and bask — at least that is what she believes we are all meant to do.
some of my favorite poems which i didn’t want to include as a quote because it won’t give you the whole experience are ‘Roses, Late Summer’, ‘1945-1985: Poem for the Anniversary’, ‘The Swan’ ‘Some Questions You Might Ask’ ‘The Egret’
- and let me emphasize how much I loved The Egret (and of course the other poems but especially so this one), the way she describes death is something i have genuinely been needing to put into words for so long, and she does it, and beautifully. i feel similarly about The Swan.
‘THE FISH’
IS SO GOOD
OMG
please read it, its genuinely one of my favorites in the whole collection.
its so sad but also bittersweet and honest and reflective and i don’t even know why, but i felt connected to this poem.
i could genuinely talk about every one of the poems in this collection for so long, i recommend so heavily. she had an amazing way with words, and i learned a lot from reading this book and also enjoyed it so much!!
my FAVORITE quotes/excerpts:
“I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down / into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, / how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, / which is what I have been doing all day. / Tell me, what else should I have done? / Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? / Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” (excerpted from The Summer Day)
“Ferns, leaves, flowers, the last subtle / refinements, elegant and easeful, wait / to rise and flourish. / What blazes the trail is not necessarily pretty.” (excerpted from Skunk Cabbage)
- (who knew skunk cabbage was a thing i looked it up and its actually so cool)
5/5⭐️
some of my favorite poems which i didn’t want to include as a quote because it won’t give you the whole experience are ‘Roses, Late Summer’, ‘1945-1985: Poem for the Anniversary’, ‘The Swan’ ‘Some Questions You Might Ask’ ‘The Egret’
- and let me emphasize how much I loved The Egret (and of course the other poems but especially so this one), the way she describes death is something i have genuinely been needing to put into words for so long, and she does it, and beautifully. i feel similarly about The Swan.
‘THE FISH’
IS SO GOOD
OMG
please read it, its genuinely one of my favorites in the whole collection.
its so sad but also bittersweet and honest and reflective and i don’t even know why, but i felt connected to this poem.
i could genuinely talk about every one of the poems in this collection for so long, i recommend so heavily. she had an amazing way with words, and i learned a lot from reading this book and also enjoyed it so much!!
my FAVORITE quotes/excerpts:
“I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down / into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, / how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, / which is what I have been doing all day. / Tell me, what else should I have done? / Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? / Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” (excerpted from The Summer Day)
“Ferns, leaves, flowers, the last subtle / refinements, elegant and easeful, wait / to rise and flourish. / What blazes the trail is not necessarily pretty.” (excerpted from Skunk Cabbage)
- (who knew skunk cabbage was a thing i looked it up and its actually so cool)
5/5⭐️
January 25, 2023
Mary Oliver never seems to disappoint me. The fact that she was able to turn her pondering and thoughts into these masterpieces strikes me speechless. I'm eternally grateful for her life lessons, reflections on nature, and love of simplicity. I'm looking forward to reading volume II of this collection!
April 7, 2008
for the right person, Oliver delivers an emotional and metaphoric experience that can bring comfort and challenge all at once.
i've used Oliver in my artwork for many years. i have not stopped loving her way of ending a piece with an aphoristic flourish - there is something sonnet-like about it that really works in a meditative/inspirational way. she IS accessible. that is the best of it - and it is also the definition of her limits, if limits are important.
any poem that begins "you do not have to be good" has many people at hello - we do not care if it is a poem, it is something we have been waiting to hear.
to hear what you need and want to hear in a dancing yet self-respecting cadence, to have the natural world turn before your eyes and speak directly to states of mind you thought were indescribable - that is powerful, and valuable.
i've used Oliver in my artwork for many years. i have not stopped loving her way of ending a piece with an aphoristic flourish - there is something sonnet-like about it that really works in a meditative/inspirational way. she IS accessible. that is the best of it - and it is also the definition of her limits, if limits are important.
any poem that begins "you do not have to be good" has many people at hello - we do not care if it is a poem, it is something we have been waiting to hear.
to hear what you need and want to hear in a dancing yet self-respecting cadence, to have the natural world turn before your eyes and speak directly to states of mind you thought were indescribable - that is powerful, and valuable.
February 12, 2015
4½ stars. Too bad this was a library book, as these are poems that deserve to be read again and again. Many of them are deceptively simple. I also liked the layout of many of the poems on the page -- something generally not found in online versions of poetry.
November 29, 2023
Love this woman
October 25, 2022
every poem in this collection spoke to a different part of me. so many beautiful pages to choose from.
here’s her poem, “the turtle”
breaks from the blue-black
skin of the water, dragging her shell
with its mossy scutes
across the shallows and through the rushes
and over the mudflats, to the uprise,
to the yellow sand,
to dig with her ungainly feet
a neat, and hunker there spewing
her white eggs down
into darkness, and you think
of her patience, her fortitude,
her determination to complete
what she was born to do -
and then you realize a greater thing -
she doesn’t consider
what she was born to do.
she’s only filled
with an old blind wish.
it isn’t even hers but came to her
i’m the rain or the soft wind,
which is a gate through which her life keeps walking
she can’t see
herself apart from the rest of the world
or the world from what she must do
every spring.
crawling up the high hill,
luminous under the sand that has packed against her skin.
she doesn’t dream
she knows
under the lashes
of my own eyes, and i thought
i am so many!
what is my name?
what is the name
of the deep breath i would take
over and over
for all of us? call it
whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the way to enter
fire.
here’s her poem, “the turtle”
breaks from the blue-black
skin of the water, dragging her shell
with its mossy scutes
across the shallows and through the rushes
and over the mudflats, to the uprise,
to the yellow sand,
to dig with her ungainly feet
a neat, and hunker there spewing
her white eggs down
into darkness, and you think
of her patience, her fortitude,
her determination to complete
what she was born to do -
and then you realize a greater thing -
she doesn’t consider
what she was born to do.
she’s only filled
with an old blind wish.
it isn’t even hers but came to her
i’m the rain or the soft wind,
which is a gate through which her life keeps walking
she can’t see
herself apart from the rest of the world
or the world from what she must do
every spring.
crawling up the high hill,
luminous under the sand that has packed against her skin.
she doesn’t dream
she knows
under the lashes
of my own eyes, and i thought
i am so many!
what is my name?
what is the name
of the deep breath i would take
over and over
for all of us? call it
whatever you want, it is
happiness, it is another one
of the way to enter
fire.
June 14, 2023
Mary Oliver gets it. The themes in her poems could not have been more impactful for me at this point in my life--the beauty of nature, the harshness of nature, death and its influence on life, longing for a sense of belonging, paying attention to the small details around you. She really had the ability to put such lofty concepts into beautiful prose. I loved the poems in this book.
They were all great, but here are some of my favorite poems from this book:
"When Death Comes"
"Her Grave"
"The Sun"
"Lonely, White Fields"
"White Flowers"
"Singapore"
"The Kookaburras"
"The Summer Day"
"Roses, Late Summer"
"The Turtle"
"The Fish"
"Hunter's Moon--Eating the Bear"
"Morning in a New Land"
I need to buy a copy of Mary Oliver's poems just to have around my house now, her prose really deserves to be re-read over and over again.
They were all great, but here are some of my favorite poems from this book:
"When Death Comes"
"Her Grave"
"The Sun"
"Lonely, White Fields"
"White Flowers"
"Singapore"
"The Kookaburras"
"The Summer Day"
"Roses, Late Summer"
"The Turtle"
"The Fish"
"Hunter's Moon--Eating the Bear"
"Morning in a New Land"
I need to buy a copy of Mary Oliver's poems just to have around my house now, her prose really deserves to be re-read over and over again.
November 13, 2025
found this collection at the thrift store for a dollar, but it is worth more than anything anyone could buy. inside: an old borders bookmark (from pasadena no less, not where i found this book) with notes and phone numbers written all over it, another bookmark from a new york printmaker, and dog ears on all the poems the previous owner liked the most. and how precious that is. i was already excited to have such a large collection of mary oliver’s poems, the personal story of this copy is really just the cherry on top. i am overjoyed.
as i am familiar with oliver’s work before picking this up, some of these poems were already familiar to me. but there were many i didn’t know, and loves i always enjoy meeting again. some of my favorites in no particular order: picking blueberries, her grave, goldenrod, morning, singapore
as i am familiar with oliver’s work before picking this up, some of these poems were already familiar to me. but there were many i didn’t know, and loves i always enjoy meeting again. some of my favorites in no particular order: picking blueberries, her grave, goldenrod, morning, singapore
July 8, 2021
I'm glad I read this selection of Mary Oliver's poems so I could become more familiar with her work. Since I also write a lot of nature poetry, I wanted to see what she had done. She is very good at mixing the natural world with the inner human world of emotions. Most of her poems have no people in them except for her. There is a smattering of people-based poems as well, but mostly it seemed she was better at focusing on nature. It also felt a little old-fashioned.
A lovely collection well worth a read.
A lovely collection well worth a read.
December 6, 2020
I can’t believe it took me this long to really connect with Mary Oliver’s poetry, but I’m very grateful that I finally did. I’ve had this book since college, but for whatever reason, never went back to it and had never read much of Oliver’s work beyond the handful of poems we read for a Literature and the Environment course. Back then, I must not have been at a point in my life where they meant as much to me, but now, I see some of my core beliefs reflected in so many of these poems — about the interconnectedness of all life, about love for the world, about beauty. This book was published in 1992, so I’m very much looking forward to digging into more of Oliver’s work from the later decades of her career.
October 24, 2022
Predictable! (Not MO, but me reading MO🙄)
“There is a thing in me still dreams of trees. But let it go. Homesick for moderation,
Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away.
If any find solution, let him tell it.
Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.
I would it were not so, but so it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?”
“There is a thing in me still dreams of trees. But let it go. Homesick for moderation,
Half the world’s artists shrink or fall away.
If any find solution, let him tell it.
Meanwhile I bend my heart toward lamentation
Where, as the times implore our true involvement,
The blades of every crisis point the way.
I would it were not so, but so it is.
Who ever made music of a mild day?”
March 26, 2018
This is quite possibly my fourth reading of this book of poems. They don't get old. Rather, it's like meeting up with dear friends for a delightful catch-up visit.
March 25, 2023
One of the finest collections of poems I’ve read. A deep delight and eye opening on the lovely frightening ultimately beautiful world—and deep dive into my soul.
April 9, 2025
god. that is all.
June 22, 2025
brought me into nature and calm in a way I didn’t realize I needed. will be coming back to in smaller chunks for sure
August 20, 2025
4.5! Love love love Mary Oliver always. Found a few new favorites. Seriously like 40% of this book is not dog earred for future poetry reference ❤️
August 15, 2024
I read some of these poems to my husband and he said I had been gatekeeping Mary Oliver lol
March 31, 2018
My father gave me a copy of this collection of poetry for my birthday in the year 2000. Eighteen years later, I finally finished reading it. The reason this book took me so long to finish is not because I did not like it. I loved it. It's just that, for me, Mary Oliver's poems need to percolate so I cannot ingest a whole bunch of the poems in one sitting. I would read a handful of poems and then would need to sit with them for awhile before tackling more. Mary Oliver is one of my favorite poets and many of the pages of this book are dog-eared so I will remember to go back and look at those poems again. A great gift! Thanks, Dad!
May 7, 2022
Prior to reading this anthology, snippets of her words have inspired my professors and myself. This is the first book that I've read of hers. Inspired by nature yet speaking to the human spirit - the reader should be able to find at least one or two pieces that feeds the soul. The following is not a critique on the author - my experience is that in general, reading through a book of poetry is less poignant than discovering and slowly digesting one poem at a time.
May 25, 2016
A beautiful collection of poems. Mary Oliver's poetry has depth, breadth, and a whispered sort of beauty. They force your eyes open to behold, to gaze, to wonder. This is life. Live it. Though each poem is a laude to life, entwined in each is a serenade to mortality, to the fleeting nature of life, and how it is all the more precious and lovely for it.
Read
February 12, 2020I love reading Mary Oliver's poetry. The content/themes, the pacing of the verse, the careful "just-right-ness" of each word makes reading her poetry a great treat. The verse does well on first reading and gets stronger with each re-reading. And thanks to an older Prairie Home Companion broadcast, I now hear all of Oliver's verse in Meryl Streep's voice.
July 27, 2013
Oliver follows in the footsteps of Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoraeu. She writes about nature using simple yet powerful images. She exposes the wonder of the natural world for us and invites us to explore it ourselves.
December 30, 2015
Wonderful, nourishing poetry full of moments from nature that invite pause, reflection and enjoyment.
November 23, 2019
The great Mary Oliver - such simplicity, such beauty, such richness. She makes every word count, and I am immersed into a different, natural world when I read her poetry. This collection has some of her best-known and most beautiful poems, like "Wild Geese," "The Journey," "Vultures," "The Kingfisher," among so many others.
This collection is from 1992, and I have many of her later collections in my library as well. Mary Oliver is my go-to poet when I need to restore my soul, my sense of wonder, and my faith in the beauty of the natural world. This edition is very, very dog eared - the sign of a much loved book.
I first read this book when I first bought it in 1998 - I have since read portions of the book over the more than 10 years that I've owned it. But, upon hearing of Mary Oliver's death this January, I took it out once more, and in the space of 5 days, read it cover to cover in her honor. I will sorely miss her, but her legacy lives on in all the beautiful words she has written.
This collection is from 1992, and I have many of her later collections in my library as well. Mary Oliver is my go-to poet when I need to restore my soul, my sense of wonder, and my faith in the beauty of the natural world. This edition is very, very dog eared - the sign of a much loved book.
I first read this book when I first bought it in 1998 - I have since read portions of the book over the more than 10 years that I've owned it. But, upon hearing of Mary Oliver's death this January, I took it out once more, and in the space of 5 days, read it cover to cover in her honor. I will sorely miss her, but her legacy lives on in all the beautiful words she has written.
July 17, 2024
As I always say at the start of these reviews, I am not a poetry person. Despite trying and trying, I do not like it, can't get into it, find reading it tedious and mostly unenjoyable. BUT I remain convinced that somewhere out there is a poet for me if I keep trying, and Mary Oliver has probably gotten the closest yet to being that poet. While I still probably (definitely) did not get the full impact of a lot of these poems and struggled to get through parts of the book, I really enjoyed some of it and this is the highest I've ever rated a poetry anthology upon reading. So to a person who actually likes poetry it's probably fantastic.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews