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A review by oliveslittlelibrary_
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver by Mary Oliver
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
"Devotions" is a poetry collection by Mary Oliver published shortly before her death in 2019.
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Mary Oliver does it again. My God. Her poetry moves me in a way I never thought was possible. Every page is full of goodness. Every time I finished one poem that particularly moved me I thought to myself "there's no way she could hit me harder than she did with this." And yet, I would turn the page and the rollercoaster of emotions would start all over again and the cycle would continue.
Oliver's words make me FEEL. In reading this I felt happiness, I felt hope, I felt community, I felt love, I laughed, I cried, I was awestruck. I feel as if she reached into the depths of my heart and balled up every thought I have ever had about beauty, about the fleeting and cyclical nature of life, about the sacred divinity of our natural world, and spat it onto the page in neat, beautifully written stanzas. I have never felt more connected to my humanity and my existence as a part of this world than I have after finishing "Devotions." For anybody who is a writer (or anybody who likes poetry), this is an absolute MUST READ. Honestly every single person in the world should read this. No lie. It should be REQUIRED reading. I think people would treat themselves, the others around them, and the earth with more grace and compassion if they fully sat with Oliver's words.
This is too varied a collection to write a full review on- as is expected, certain parts were incredible while others lulled a bit- but nonetheless, it is a full blown five stars from me with absolutely zero hesitation. I wish I could share my full annotations on StoryGraph & Goodreads, but I sadly cannot (it would probably take me a full day to upload). However, I will list all of my favorite poems from the collection below, in case you would like to research them yourself and get a taste for the parts of this collection I liked the most.
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Follow @oliveslittlelibrary_ on insta for more book content <3
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MY FAVORITE POEMS FROM "DEVOTIONS":
-I Don't Want to be Demure or Respectable
-Don't Hesitate
-To Begin With, The Sweetgrass
-Invitation
-When I Am Among the Trees
-Oxygen
-Blue Iris
-When Death Comes
-Whelks
-October
-Wild Geese
-The Journey
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PS: if you get yourself to read even just one of the poems above, let it be Wild Geese. It has grown to be my favorite poem of all time.
•
Mary Oliver does it again. My God. Her poetry moves me in a way I never thought was possible. Every page is full of goodness. Every time I finished one poem that particularly moved me I thought to myself "there's no way she could hit me harder than she did with this." And yet, I would turn the page and the rollercoaster of emotions would start all over again and the cycle would continue.
Oliver's words make me FEEL. In reading this I felt happiness, I felt hope, I felt community, I felt love, I laughed, I cried, I was awestruck. I feel as if she reached into the depths of my heart and balled up every thought I have ever had about beauty, about the fleeting and cyclical nature of life, about the sacred divinity of our natural world, and spat it onto the page in neat, beautifully written stanzas. I have never felt more connected to my humanity and my existence as a part of this world than I have after finishing "Devotions." For anybody who is a writer (or anybody who likes poetry), this is an absolute MUST READ. Honestly every single person in the world should read this. No lie. It should be REQUIRED reading. I think people would treat themselves, the others around them, and the earth with more grace and compassion if they fully sat with Oliver's words.
This is too varied a collection to write a full review on- as is expected, certain parts were incredible while others lulled a bit- but nonetheless, it is a full blown five stars from me with absolutely zero hesitation. I wish I could share my full annotations on StoryGraph & Goodreads, but I sadly cannot (it would probably take me a full day to upload). However, I will list all of my favorite poems from the collection below, in case you would like to research them yourself and get a taste for the parts of this collection I liked the most.
•
Follow @oliveslittlelibrary_ on insta for more book content <3
•
MY FAVORITE POEMS FROM "DEVOTIONS":
-I Don't Want to be Demure or Respectable
-Don't Hesitate
-To Begin With, The Sweetgrass
-Invitation
-When I Am Among the Trees
-Oxygen
-Blue Iris
-When Death Comes
-Whelks
-October
-Wild Geese
-The Journey
•
PS: if you get yourself to read even just one of the poems above, let it be Wild Geese. It has grown to be my favorite poem of all time.