Mary Oliver facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mary Jane Oliver
Born	(1935-09-10)September 10, 1935 Maple Heights, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 17, 2019(2019-01-17) (aged 83) Hobe Sound, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Poet
Notable awards	National Book Award 1992 Pulitzer Prize 1984
Partner	Molly Malone Cook

Mary Jane Oliver (born September 10, 1935 – died January 17, 2019) was a famous American poet. She won important awards like the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Mary Oliver's poems were mostly about nature, not people. She loved taking long walks by herself in the wild. Her writing showed a true sense of wonder about nature. She used simple words to share her feelings. In 2007, she became the best-selling poet in the United States.

Early Life and Inspiration

Mary Oliver was born on September 10, 1935. Her parents were Edward William and Helen M. Oliver. She grew up in Maple Heights, Ohio, near Cleveland. Her father was a social studies teacher and a sports coach.

As a child, Mary spent a lot of time outdoors. She loved to go for walks and read books. She once said that writing helped her create her own world. This was especially true because her childhood was quite difficult.

Mary started writing poetry when she was 14 years old. She finished high school in Maple Heights. When she was 15, she went to a music camp in Interlochen, Michigan. There, she played percussion in the high school orchestra.

At 17, she visited the home of another famous poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Mary became good friends with Edna's sister, Norma. For several years, Mary and Norma helped organize Edna St. Vincent Millay's old papers.

Mary Oliver also studied at The Ohio State University and Vassar College. However, she did not earn a degree from either school.

A Poet's Journey

Mary Oliver's first book of poems was called No Voyage and Other Poems. It was published in 1963 when she was 28. In the early 1980s, she taught at Case Western Reserve University.

Her fifth poetry book, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. This was a very big achievement for her. She also taught at other colleges, like Bucknell University and Sweet Briar College. Later, she taught at Bennington College until 2001.

Mary Oliver won more awards for her writing. House of Light (1990) won the Christopher Award. Her book New and Selected Poems (1992) won the National Book Award.

Her poems often show her deep connection to nature. She once wrote, "When it's over, I want to say: all my life / I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms." This shows how much she loved and admired the natural world.

Her later collections, like Winter Hours (1999) and Why I Wake Early (2004), continued these themes. Her essays also appeared in important collections like Best American Essays.

Mary Oliver's Unique Poetic Style

Mary Oliver's poetry is deeply connected to her life in Ohio and later in New England. Many of her poems are set in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she lived for many years.

She was influenced by famous poets like Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau. Mary Oliver was known for her clear and touching observations of nature. One book described her work as a "new kind of Romanticism." This means her poems blended nature and her own feelings.

Nature truly inspired her creativity. Mary Oliver loved to walk and often found ideas for her poems during these walks. Her poems are full of images from her daily outdoor adventures. You can read about shore birds, water snakes, the moon, and even humpback whales in her work.

She once said that a "successful walk" was when she stopped to write. She even hid pencils in trees so she would always have one if an idea came to her! She often carried a small notebook to jot down thoughts.

People have compared Mary Oliver to Emily Dickinson, another poet who loved quiet time and thinking deeply. Mary Oliver's poems often mix serious thoughts with joyful moments. She used simple language and themes that everyone could understand.

In 2007, The New York Times called her "far and away, this country's best-selling poet."

Personal Life

In the late 1950s, Mary Oliver met a photographer named Molly Malone Cook. Molly became Mary's close companion for over forty years. Mary wrote about Molly in a book called Our World. She said, "I took one look [at Cook] and fell, hook and tumble." Molly also helped Mary with her writing career.

They lived together in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Mary continued to live there after Molly passed away in 2005. She later moved to Florida. Mary loved Provincetown, calling it a "marvelous convergence of land and water."

Mary Oliver was a very private person. She gave very few interviews. She believed her writing should speak for itself.

Later Years and Passing

In 2012, Mary Oliver faced some health challenges. She passed away on January 17, 2019, at the age of 83, after an illness.

Selected Awards and Honors

• 1969/70 Shelley Memorial Award
• 1980 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
• 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for American Primitive
• 1991 L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award for House of Light
• 1992 National Book Award for Poetry for New and Selected Poems
• 1998 Lannan Literary Award for poetry
• 2003 Honorary membership into Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University
• 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Poetry for A Thousand Mornings

Works

Poetry Collections

• 1963 No Voyage, and Other Poems
• 1972 The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems ISBN: 978-0-15-177750-1
• 1979 Twelve Moons ISBN: 0316650013
• 1983 American Primitive ISBN: 978-0-316-65004-5
• 1986 Dream Work ISBN: 978-0-87113-069-3
• 1990 House of Light Beacon Press ISBN: 978-0-8070-6810-6
• 1992 New and Selected Poems [volume one] Beacon Press ISBN: 978-0-8070-6818-2
• 1994 White Pine: Poems and Prose Poems ISBN: 978-0-15-600120-5
• 1995 Blue Pastures ISBN: 978-0-15-600215-8
• 1997 West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems ISBN: 978-0-395-85085-5
• 1999 Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems, and Poems ISBN: 978-0-395-85087-9
• 2000 The Leaf and the Cloud ISBN: 978-0-306-81073-2
• 2002 What Do We Know ISBN: 978-0-306-81206-4
• 2003 Owls and Other Fantasies: poems and essays ISBN: 978-0-8070-6868-7
• 2004 Why I Wake Early: New Poems ISBN: 978-0-8070-6879-3
• 2004 Blue Iris: Poems and Essays ISBN: 978-0-8070-6882-3
• 2005 New and Selected Poems, volume two ISBN: 978-0-8070-6886-1
• 2006 Thirst: Poems ISBN: 978-0-8070-6896-0
• 2007 Our World with photographs by Molly Malone Cook
• 2008 The Truro Bear and Other Adventures: Poems and Essays ISBN: 978-0-8070-6884-7
• 2008 Red Bird ISBN: 978-0-8070-6892-2
• 2009 Evidence ISBN: 978-0-8070-6898-4
• 2010 Swan: Poems and Prose Poems ISBN: 978-0-8070-6899-1
• 2012 A Thousand Mornings ISBN: 978-1-59420-477-7
• 2013 Dog Songs ISBN: 978-1-59420-478-4
• 2014 Blue Horses ISBN: 978-1-59420-479-1
• 2015 Felicity ISBN: 978-1-59420-676-4
• 2017 Devotions The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver ISBN: 978-0-399-56324-9

Non-fiction Books and Other Collections

• 1994 A Poetry Handbook ISBN: 978-0-15-672400-5
• 1998 Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse ISBN: 978-0-395-85086-2
• 2004 Long Life: Essays and Other Writings ISBN: 978-0-306-81412-9
• 2016 Upstream: Selected Essays ISBN: 978-1-594-20670-2

Works in Translation

Catalan

• 2018 Ocell Roig (translated by Corina Oproae) Bilingual Edition. Godall Edicions.

See also

In Spanish: Mary Oliver para niños

• Poppies, a poem by Mary Oliver
• In Blackwater Woods, a poem by Mary Oliver