A New York Times Bestseller, chosen as Oprah’s “Books That Help Me Through” for Oprah’s Book Club“No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver’s exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. Perhaps more important, the luminous writing provides respite from our crazy world … writing provides respite from our crazy world and demonstrates how mindfulness can define and transform a life, moment by moment, poem by poem.” —The Washington Post
“It’s as if the poet herself has sidled beside the reader and pointed us to the poems she considers most worthy of deep consideration.” —Chicago Tribune
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career.
Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as “far and away, this country’s best selling poet” by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.
Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver’s work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.
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Mary Oliver’s Devotions provides a fitting culmination of her life philosophy, her core tenets bound together in one vulnerable place. Ultimately, her work divulges with astute observation the crux of what we are: at once human and animal, at once selfish and full of gratitude, at once perfect and profoundly flawed. The paradoxical balancing act between shameless desire and overwhelming selflessness is deftly traversed through her lush turns of phrase:
For one thing leads to another.
Soon you will notice how stones shine underfoot.
Eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in.
And someone’s face, whom you love, will be as a star
both intimate and ultimate,
and you will be both heart-shaken and respectful.
And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper:
oh, let me, for a while longer, enter the two
beautiful bodies of your lungs.
Both achingly universal and gut-wrenchingly personal, Oliver simultaneously forces us to confront and entwine the outer world with our inner worlds, where our place among “the family of things” is ascertained only through the intersection of the physical and cerebral realms. Central to her perspective is the interconnectedness of all things, regardless of their tenuous association. The bulk of her work fixated on subjects including identity, mortality, and nature, often blending these vital fascinations within the same poem:
And that’s when it happens—
you see everything
through their eyes,
their joy, their necessity;
you wear their webbed fingers;
your throat swells.
And that’s when you know
you will live whether you will or not,
one way or another,
because everything is everything else,
one long muscle.
Though her lexis and subjects are deceptively simple, her ideas and overwhelming message are incredibly complex. Such morsels of wisdom may only emerge via scathing self-reflection, acceptance of one’s darkness, and the will to strive for unflinching compassion above all else. Her words bestow a brave dogma of openness with the universe, the perils of existence, and the undefinable devotions shared between one another:
To live in this world
you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.
Devotions stands as a quiet meditation on the blameless act of being in a world that is preoccupied with doing. Through the darkest happenings of today’s world, Mary Oliver’s poetry continues to shine brightly and reminds us what it means to be present, appreciative, and most importantly, ourselves.
Wonderful collection of her work.
I haven’t read a lot of poetry and honestly, I don’t know a lot about poetry, but this book is utterly wonderful. The author approached life with a sense of curiosity and acceptance that is both courageous and inspiring. I pick this up any time I’m not sure what to read or when I need a little pick-me-up.
Beautiful nature poetry, lyrical, sensual, memorable.
A beautiful, beautiful book.
I don’t know enough about poetry but this is a great collection. Especially loved the ones about her dogs, because you can’t go wrong with stuff about dogs.
One of the most moving poetry collections I’ve ever read
I love Mary Oliver. Some of her favorite poems are in this collection and some of my favorites too. I love having it in digital form so I can keep referring again to the ones that are my favorites. Mary’s take on nature, spirit, humility, and unique point of view are always refreshing.
This is the best of Mary Oliver. You never say of this book :”I have finished reading it” It is one you pick up often to enjoy.
“Devotions” is a book of Mary Oliver’s poetry over the decades. She takes her world and interprets it through poetry opening our world to us in new ways. I read a bit of this book every day just to remind me to open my eyes and my heart to all that is around me. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” — from “The Summer Day”
I gave this as a gift to a dying beloved relative. She loved Mary Oliver, as do I.
Oliver is my favorite modern poet. Have read 4 of her books and really liked them.
Lovely, as usual!
Brilliant, deeply thought and felt
This is really a philosophy in poetry form. Very readable and gave something to reflect on
Conventional
The poetry is nature based and to my liking.
I have enjoyed these poems
Beautifuly expressed poetry.
Mary Oliver is one of our great poets. The master of the plain language, filled with emotion and heart.