Rosalie Weiss- Week 6- “August” by Mary Oliver



    This week I read “August” by Mary Oliver. It is a short poem focusing on the joys of nature, summer, and living a carefree life. 

    Oliver opens the poem by describing a scene in the woods with blackberries hanging “in the brambles nobody owns.” (lines 1-3) This introduces the setting in both physical location and atmosphere. Being in an area no one owns, there is the freedom to do whatever you want, setting up the carefree atmosphere of the poem. 

    To best explore nature in a carefree way, Oliver views this environment through the perspective of a bear. This can be seen in her description of “thinking of nothing” while “cramming the black honey of summer” into her mouth, using a bear-like behavior to show how having no worries allows you to truly appreciate and enjoy nature (lines 6-9). 

    The poem is structured in an odd way as the stanzas are not separated by thoughts. Instead, each stanza ends by beginning the thought of the next stanza. While this disorganization makes the poem difficult to read, I believe it supports the idea that the poem is written from the perspective of a bear rather than of a human, as bears don't know how to properly structure poems. 

    I like this poem and find it to be charming. Oliver is good at employing imagery to make her poems fun and colorful. I think that taking on the perspective of a bear is a cool idea that makes the work even more interesting.

    What do you think? Do you think the poem is from the perspective of a bear?

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