Meaning Of Wild Geese By Mary Oliver

Famous American poet Mary Oliver penned the poem Wild Geese and it was added to the collection of poems that she wrote that gained her fame through the nineteenth century. Mary Oliver has received the Pulitzer Prize for her writings and is an incredibly talented writer. In her award-winning poem, Wild Geese, Oliver compares human life to that of a migrating goose. In the piece, she states that as the geese know their place in the sky and have found comfort where they belong so should humans. She then relates this to the human experience by writing, “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination.” (Lines 14-15) This poem affected most of the people who read it by urging them to find comfort in his/her own

Nature is a universal concept that nearly everyone on the planet can relate to, as well as the struggle of not knowing one’s place in the world, both of which are central themes in Mary Oliver’s poem. For example, in the opening lines of her piece Mary Oliver urges her readers not to feel guilt or shame for how he/she may be feeling via metaphors from nature, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” (Lines 4-5) She also utilizes nature to create beautiful imagery for her readers. These images not only add to the splendor of the poem but are part of her purpose as well. An example of this is Lines 8 through 11, in these lines Oliver writes out, “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…” By using these examples and symbols from nature Oliver helps to communicate her message, which is that every person on the planet has the right to be comfortable in his/her own skin. When the author uses these techniques she is able to harness the pathos technique to convince her reader that she is correct in her statement within the