Rosalie Weiss- Week 3- “Breakage” by Mary Oliver

For this week’s poem, I chose “Breakage” by Mary Oliver. 

Oliver begins the poem detailing the scene of a sea. She describes the whelk, clam, mussels, moon snails, and barnacles as being not “whole or shut, but tattered, split.” (Line 7) Oliver uses these broken items as a metaphor for words, explaining that “first you figure out what each one means by itself,” and “then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story.” (Lines 12-15)

While the title can be a reference to the breakage of the ocean or the broken items, I interpret it to be about the breakage of the whole scene. The broken items, just like words, each have their own unique meanings, but are ultimately the broken pieces of a bigger story. On their own, the broken items may be seen as unpleasant due to their flaws and damages, but when you look at them as a whole, you find a beautiful scene. I believe the lesson that can be learned from this is to not focus on the negative parts of life and instead appreciate the positive. This lesson was also prevalent in another one of  Oliver’s poems, “The Hermit Crab,” as was the setting of the beach. 

I really enjoyed this poem. It is very chill and has a nice vibe. I recommend this poem if you like the beach and appreciate nature. It is quite short which makes it a quick and easy read. The wording isn’t too complicated which makes it easy to understand for people who don’t like complicated poems.