Reviews for New and Selected Poems: Volume One

The average rating for New and Selected Poems: Volume One based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-07 00:00:00 New Rulz RIP, Mary Oliver, 1/17/19 "When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it is over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world."

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-15 00:00:00 Ronkie Edrob I'll admit it. I'm often intimidated by poetry. Many times I can't understand or find meaning in poems I've read. I was familiar with some of Mary Oliver's most well-known poems, such as "The Summer Day", "Wild Geese", and "Why I Wake Early", but wouldn't have read this entire book if it wasn't for a challenge for National Poetry month. I'm very glad that I took the time to go through this book poem by poem. While there were a few that left me scratching my head, on the whole Oliver's poems are approachable and quite moving. Using the natural world as inspiration, Oliver creates metaphors and observations about the human condition that beautifully ring true. I dog-eared at least 20 poems in this collection, so I can easily find them later, and discovered new favorites such as "Whelks" "The Sun", "University Hospital, Boston" and "The Black Walnut Tree". 4 stars