Born in a small town in Ohio, Mary Oliver published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of 28. Over the course of her long career, she received numerous awards. Her fourth book, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984. She led workshops and held residencies at various colleges and universities, including Bennington College, where she held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching. She died in 2019.
“There's hardly a page in my copy of Upstream that isn't
folded down or underlined and scribbled on, so charged is Oliver's
language . . . I need a moment away from unceasing word drip of
debates about the election, about whether Elena Ferrante has the
right to privacy, about whether Bob Dylan writes 'Literature.' I
need a moment, more than a moment, in the steady and profound
company of Mary Oliver and I think you might need one
too.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
“Uniting essays from Oliver’s previous books and elsewhere, this
gem of a collection offers a compelling synthesis of the poet’s
thoughts on the natural, spiritual and artistic worlds . . . With
each page, the book gains accumulative power. The various threads
intertwine and become taut.” —The New York Times
“When reading Mary Oliver in any form—poetry or prose—you oughtn't
be surprised when suddenly you find yourself at a full stop. When
you come across a sentence so arresting in its beauty—its
construction, its word choice, its truths—you can't help but pause,
hit "reread," and await the transformative soaking-in, the
awakening of mind and soul that's sure to settle deeply. She never
fails to stir us from whatever is the natural speck before our gaze
to the immeasurable heaven's dome above and beyond.” —Chicago
Tribune
“Upstream is a testament to a lifetime of paying attention, and an
invitation to readers to do the same.” —Christian Science
Monitor
“The richness of these essays—part revelation, part
instruction—will prompt readers to dive in again and again.” —The
Washington Post
“A tremendously vitalizing read . . . grounding and elevating at
the same time.” —Brain Pickings
“Oliver immerses us in an ever-widening circle, in which a shrub or
flower opens onto the cosmos, revealing our meager, masterful place
in it. Hold Upstream in your hands, and you hold a miracle of
ravishing imagery and startling revelation.” —Minneapolis Star
Tribune
“Highly recommended as an entrée to Oliver’s works, this volume
should also be required reading for artists of all kinds, not just
writers, and especially aspiring creative minds.” —Library Journal
(starred review)
“Distinguished, honored, prolific, popular, bestselling—adjectives
that don’t always hang out together—describe Oliver’s body of work,
nearly three dozen volumes of poetry and collections of prose. This
group (19 essays, 16 from previous collections) is a distillation
of sorts. Born of two 'blessings—the natural world, and the world
of writing: literature,' it partakes of the spirits of a journal, a
commonplace book, and a meditation. The natural world pictured here
is richly various, though Oliver seems most drawn to waterways. All
manner of aquatic life—shark and mackerel, duck and egret—accompany
her days, along with spiders, foxes, even a bear. Her keen
observations come as narrative (following a fox) or as manual
(building a house) or as poems masquerading as description (“I have
seen bluefish arc and sled across the water, an acre of them,
leaping and sliding back under the water, then leaping again,
toothy, terrible, lashed by hunger”). When the world of writing
enters, currently unfashionable 19th-century writers emerge—Percy
Shelley, William Wordsworth, William James—in readings that evade
academic textual analyses and share the look-at-what-I-saw tone
animating Oliver’s observations of the natural world. The message
of her book for its readers is a simple and profound one: open your
eyes.” —Publishers Weekly
“Part paean to nature and part meditation on the writing life, this
elegant and simply written book is a neo-Romantic celebration of
life and the pursuit of art that is sure to enchant Oliver's many
admirers. A lyrical, tender essay collection.” —Kirkus
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