Thanks for posting one of my favorite poets from my youth. I’d forgotten how much I loved her poetry until you posted this. Her poems are balm to weary souls. I taught “Renascence” which is so uplifting.
Although the world has changed a great deal, her sentiments feel as though she wrote them next to me where I sit on an island in Maine. A one hundred year old poem, still as fresh as the day it was written.
I too am happy by the sea. I’m sadly landlocked now.
An interesting aside:
At 17 Mary Oliver visited the home of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, in Austerlitz, New York, where she then formed a friendship with the late poet's sister Norma. Oliver and Norma spent the next six to seven years at the estate organizing Edna St. Vincent Millay's papers. (Oliver too became a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize.)
This is one of those poems where I feel myself falling in love with the author by way of the words--and most likely so were we to meet in person. The line, "stricken with noise, confused with light" cuts to my marrow. Years ago, I wrote the following poem and dedicated it to Edna, having cribbed a few famous lines of hers in the final stanza: https://www.kenpaulrosenthal.com/writings/where-icarus-flew/
Thanks for posting one of my favorite poets from my youth. I’d forgotten how much I loved her poetry until you posted this. Her poems are balm to weary souls. I taught “Renascence” which is so uplifting.
Although the world has changed a great deal, her sentiments feel as though she wrote them next to me where I sit on an island in Maine. A one hundred year old poem, still as fresh as the day it was written.
ANOTHER GREAT FIND FROM THE BOYS AND GIRLS AT OUTLAW!
I miss the sea, it calms my mind.
Apart.always. Something I would experience and value, but she embraced a lifetime of it.
I thank you as well. A favorite poem of mine is her "Recuerdo" which starts:
We were very tired, we were very merry—
We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/14404/recuerdo
Great poem. Speaks to many.
I too am happy by the sea. I’m sadly landlocked now.
An interesting aside:
At 17 Mary Oliver visited the home of the late Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, in Austerlitz, New York, where she then formed a friendship with the late poet's sister Norma. Oliver and Norma spent the next six to seven years at the estate organizing Edna St. Vincent Millay's papers. (Oliver too became a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize.)
This is one of those poems where I feel myself falling in love with the author by way of the words--and most likely so were we to meet in person. The line, "stricken with noise, confused with light" cuts to my marrow. Years ago, I wrote the following poem and dedicated it to Edna, having cribbed a few famous lines of hers in the final stanza: https://www.kenpaulrosenthal.com/writings/where-icarus-flew/
Wonderful poem. Its rolling rhythm brought me right to the ocean's edge, listening to the surf, tasting its salt.
Lovely.
💖🙏
Every line transmits its own distinctly strong image. She was a wonder.
“the wrecked and rotting hulls”
It's about time I added Edna St. Vincent Millay to my poetry collection!
Blessings for Edna's work to be resurrected. Her use of alliteration is nonpareils. Dave P
I feel the same about water. Am so drawn.