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Mary Oliver’ ‘Rain,’ ‘Breakage’ and ‘Death at Wind River’ Analysis

Oliver was born in 1935, in Ohio. Her mother was a secretary in a local
elementary school while her father was a social studies teacher in a school at
Cleveland. Oliver explained during an interview with Maria Shriver that she lived in
a dysfunctional family and experienced a very challenging life as a child. Mary
Oliver’s poetry was greatly influenced from her childhood memories in Ohio as well
as her adopted home in New England. Most of her poems however narrate her
experiences in Provincetown. Whitman inspired her poetic style. Oliver is famous for
her clear analysis of human consciousness and nature. Most of her poems explore the
simplicity of life, death, and regeneration. Although her poems speak of the nature’s
unexpected beauty, they do not ignore the uglier truths. In the poems, ‘ Rain,
Breakage and Death at Wind River, Oliver uses imagery and symbolism in her work
to express her love for nature as well as narrate how nature made her feel safe and
secure during her life trials.

Her love to celebrate nature is realized in her use of words to describe the
natural world in her poetry. Growing up, Oliver experienced childhood sexual abuse
and turned to nature for comfort. Her father was sexually abusive while her mother
on the other hand was forever absent. She would spend most of her time outside in
the woods either taking walks or reading. Whenever she ran away from home, she
spent several hours wandering in the woods near Ohio, reading Whitman’s poetry and
writing in her notebook. Later on, Oliver became a prolific poetry and prose writer.
She is however popular for her poetic pieces. Her first work includes; No Voyage and
Other Poems published in 1963. In 1984, she won the Pulitzer Prize through her
collection, ‘American Primitive.’ Most of her poems relate to the natural world
touching on images such as storms, seasons, trees, waterfalls and humming birds
among others. Although her poems address other themes such as love and gratitude,
it is important to note that the use of nature in her poems narrate how her experiences
in the natural world made her feel happy, safe and alive. At first, reading poems was
one of the way she could escape from the miserable experiences in her life. At the age
of 13, she found comfort in writing. She developed the desire to write well and
become a prolific writer.

Her poems list a trail of her life experiences since she was young to her adult
life. Most of her adult life was spent in Provincetown along with her partner Molly
Cook and Oliver wrote several poems about the life. For Oliver, the natural world has
always been her source of inspiration as she walks through the Ohio woods during her
childhood through to the Cape Cod shoreline during her adulthood among other
places she visited. Oliver cites Walt Whitman as one of her inspirations for writing
poetry. As a child, she would spend most of her time in the woods near Maple Heights
with the company of her books and Whitman’s poems. Later on as an adult, she
would often find herself in woods near Provincetown with a poetic idea. Although
sometimes she would not write down the poem, she would return to the woods and
hide some pencils in the trees just incase she felt the need to write (Roy n.p). Oliver
also writes about dogs and death in her poem and how they relate to human life.
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When writing about wild dogs, they are represented as kindred spirits. Oliver in ‘Dog
Songs,’ devotes her narration to explore the relationships between canines and
humans. On writing about death, she writes to show that she holds no regrets to the
life she has lived.

Oliver narrates that she came from a dark and broken home to a point where
she no longer worries about enclosed buildings. She also notes hat poetry was her
salvation and it was in her childhood that she realized her belief in God. Although
she had trouble with resurrection while in Sunday school she was still interested in
religion like other children who hardly entered the church. Her early poems depict
her foraging for food. However her primary focus moved to animals searching for
food, giving birth or dying. She also focused on human life and the imperfections
associated with imperfection and self-consciousness. Although Oliver never
considered herself religious, her poems summons a message of change to the readers.
The cycles of restoration can be realized in the poem, ‘Rain’ where Oliver seems to be
observant of the happiness brought by the rain. The poem paints the image of a
boring day with little expectations. However, when the rain comes pouring, the
persona is filled with expectations and happiness that change he look of the nature
around her. In most of her poems, there is always an underneath meaning. The poems
encourage the reader to focus on the world that they live in and focus on our role as
humans to the ecosystem. Moreover, nature in her poems refers to her idea on God
and the beauty he brings in our lives.

Imagery refers to the concept of using visual descriptive language in a literary

piece. In her poems, Oliver uses profoundly American images. She draws through a
landscape of wonder and danger, linking them right to narrate different experiences.
In the poem, ‘Death at Wind River,’ she narrates the life of a group of individuals- the
residents of the Wind River Native American reservation in Wyoming (Zax n.p). She
narrates how they have experienced violence in their lives. She says, ‘they have raged
drunk over their grandmothers. They have stumbled on the ghosts of the children.
After all that, their nerves click like Frozen Leaves (Oliver, Death At Wind River).
(Lines 14-16). The lines could symbolize the regret the loss of native life experiences.
Oliver serves as the voice of natural soul, narrating the experience of Native
Americans and all the events they had to undergo and live with. Also, Oliver uses
dreams to symbolize the impractical imaginations experienced by individuals that
contribute to their psychological deaths. She writes, in their dreams they sleep with
the moon. But mostly they drag their heels in the dust.’ The dust on the other hand,
could represent the realities in the individuals’ lives that cannot be transformed by
their illusions.

In ‘Breakage,’ Oliver uses imagery to portray the beauty of nature. As the

poem begins, the reader can see the beautiful image of the sea tide. She uses a great
choice of words to allow the reader to visualize the beauty of the sea tide. She writes,
‘moisture gone. It’s like a schoolhouse of little words, thousands of little words.’ In
the chosen lines, Oliver uses fragmentation of thoughts to express the cycles in nature
that depend on breakdown and restoration of the nature. The lines could also mean
that the poet attempts to explain the idea of healing for human self. Similar to the
cycles experienced by nature, human beings undergo cycles of revitalization and self-
healing. Oliver writes the images she finds broken as she walks along to beach to
express humanity imperfections. ‘The broken cupboard of the clam, the opened, blue
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mussels, moon …nothing at all whole or shut (Oliver, Breakage lines 3-8). By using
great amount of detail, Oliver allows the reader to understand how broken objects can
be by giving them a bigger picture. The imagery also allows the reader to connect
with the poet on a deeper level. From the description, Oliver makes it clear that all
people have imperfections that make them look ugly. However, these imperfections
are the broken objects that individuals need to build themselves. In the poem, Oliver
lovingly describes the images as if she is picking over each broken object and turning
it over her hands.

As Oliver notes, her vision on the natural world helped the reader view the
world intently in a manner that they can feel its shift as they read through the poem.
In the poem, ‘Rain,’ the poet narrates of the inspiration brought by the rain.
Personification is realized in the poem as the rain is given the quality of living things.
She writes, ‘ the rain spoke to me slowly saying’ (Oliver, Mary Oliver Poems : Last
Night the Rain Spoke to Me, lines 1-4 ). From the poem it is correct to note that
Oliver felt inspired to be happy on the days when it rained. As the poem continues,
she notes, ‘ slowly saying, what joy to come falling out of the brisk cloud, to be happy
again.’ (Lines 4-8). Her love for nature can also be realized in the poem as she
expresses how rain brings happiness to tress and grass below. She notes that after the
rain was over, happiness was realized. She writes, ‘ The tree was a tree with happy
leaves, and I was myself,’ (Lines 22-24).

In conclusion, Oliver’s poetry uses imagery and symbolism to convey the

beauty of nature. She also explains how nature can help a person persevere and
encounter their life struggles. Oliver is a prolific writer who used poetry to express the
beauty of nature in her poems. Her love for nature spurs from her childhood
experiences. Brought up in a family where she faced sexual assault and neglect, she
turned to poetry and writing as her escape room. Her poetry plays great attention to
the natural world around the areas she lived and visited. Oliver’s desire to deliver
authentic pieces on nature blossoms in her poems as they allow the reader to
experience the feeling of ‘pure peace.’’ From her poems, the reader realizes that after
encountering the beauty of nature, we should be motivated to given back the beauty.
The poet died at the age of 83 on January 2019. Her work will forever remain, as
unique pieces told neither in a subjective nor radical form. Her choice of word was
also unique in that she could describe nature just as it was making it seem entirely
new and different. Her poetry serves as an excellent antidote for excess civilization.

Work Cited

Zax, Tayla. Mourning Mary Oliver, America's Spiritual Conscience. 18 January 2019.
30 June 2020
file://localhost/<https/::forward.com:culture:books:417774:mourning-mary-
oliver-americas-spiritual-conscience:>.

Oliver, Mary. Breakage. 2003. 30 June 2020

file://localhost/<https/::www.poetryfoundation.org:poetrymagazine:poems:41
917:breakage>.
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—. Death At Wind River. 2019. 30 June 2020 <https://war-

poetry.livejournal.com/898531.html>.

—. Mary Oliver Poems : Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me . 2010.

file://localhost/<http/::famouspoetsandpoems.com:poets:mary_oliver:poems:1
5850>.

Roy, Nilanjana. Mary Oliver: a life in the woods. 25 January 2019. 30 June 2020
file://localhost/<https/::www.ft.com:content:b8484b50-1d83-11e9-b2f7-
97e4dbd3580d>.