Neo Romantics: Mary Oliver's relationship to nature

 Neo Romantics: Mary Oliver


I’ve already written a blog post complaining about Henry Thoreau, so it’s now time for my favorite topic; Mary Oliver. When Thoreau writes about walking, he sees the act as one of independence. To walk alone, in nature, sets a man apart, Thoreau writes in "Walking"; it makes him part of nature, not part of society, and sets him towards a great and higher purpose. Mary Oliver’s poetry is sparser in its language and less forthcoming with its philosophy, but the philosophy is there nonetheless. In her poem “When I am among the trees,” nature exists alongside the walker like an old friend. “They give off such hints of gladness,” Oliver writes of the willows, the oaks and the honey locust. If Oliver’s nature is a person, then its personhood is her salvation - the gladness of the trees saves her daily, she writes. The trees invite her in to stay. 


While in Thoreau’s essays nature redeems him, strengthening him in his independence, the redeeming qualities of nature are not just given to Oliver but shared with her, through a relationship she describes through the language of commonality. Further, her connection to nature exists not in isolation but in conjunction with the domestic. In “Walking Home from Oak-Head” she describes the how the wonder of a walk is joined, not hampered by the promise of a return home, with neither joy infringing upon the other. “Whenever I get home - whenever - somebody loves me there,” she writes. 


Independence is nowhere to be seen in Oliver’s work. Instead she leans on the language of values one might call traditionally feminine - emotional intimacy, kindness, community, affection - values often neglected in the world of academic literature, seen as less complex, intellectual, or critical. But for Oliver these are the most important parts of living a good life, existing both within and alongside her relationship to nature. In fact, the joy she derives from nature depends on her ability to practice these skills: in “the hope” of herself, Oliver writes in “Walking Home from Oak-Head,” she walks slowly through the world and bows often. Time spent, attentiveness, humility - the same traits that make for a healthy relationship are the traits of Oliver’s ideal connection to nature.

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