A Thousand Mornings

by Mary Oliver

Overview

The New York Times-bestselling collection of poems from celebrated poet Mary Oliver

In A Thousand Mornings, Mary Oliver returns to the imagery that has come to define her life’s work, transporting us to the marshland and coastline of her beloved home, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Whether studying the leaves of a tree or mourning her treasured dog Percy, Oliver is open to the teachings contained in the smallest of moments and explores with startling clarity, humor, and kindness the mysteries of our daily experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101595978
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/11/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	356,929
File size:	408 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Born in a small town in Ohio, Mary Oliver published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of 28. Over the course of her long career, she has received numerous awards. Her fourth book, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. She has led workshops and held residencies at various colleges and universities, including Bennington College, where she held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching.

Read an Excerpt

I GO DOWN TO THE SHORE

I go down to the shore in the morning
and depending on the hour the waves
are rolling in or moving out,
and I say, oh, I am miserable,
what shall—
what should I do? And the sea says
in its lovely voice:
Excuse me, I have work to do.

Editorial Reviews

"Her compact poems are conversational and teasing, yet their taproots reach deeply into the aquifers of religion, philosophy, and literature . . . Oliver is funny and renegade as she protests cultural vapidity, greed, violence, and environmental decimation and ravishing in her close readings of nature." —Booklist
 
"If you're one of the many, many fans of National Book Award- and Pulitzer-winning poet Mary Oliver, you'll very much welcome A Thousand Mornings." —Shelf Awareness

From the Publisher

The winner of numerous literary awards, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Oliver (American Primitive) writes intimately about nature in its smallest and liveliest details. Using clear, precise language and imagery rich with earthy colors, she shows that nature's many inhabitants are the authors of exciting but unfinished stories that intersect with one another, displaying a deep connection: "Now I am here, later I will be there/ I will be that small cloud, staring down at the water/ the one that stalls, that lifts its white legs, that/ looks like a lamb." The poems read like anecdotes, lyrical and wise, as Oliver embraces a way of seeing that renders the many aspects of the natural world in all their singularity. What results is a powerful sense of nature as a source of both solace and companionship. VERDICT Writing with grace, passion, and precision, Oliver delivers nature's throbbing beauty and vitality to all readers. Highly recommended.—Sadiq Alkoriji, South Regional Lib., Broward Cty., FL

Library Journal