1998
First Published
4.19
Average Rating
446
Number of Pages
"True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, / As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance," wrote Alexander Pope. "The dance," in the case of Oliver's brief and luminous book, refers to the interwoven pleasures of sound and sense to be found in some of the most celebrated and beautiful poems in the English language, from Shakespeare to Edna St. Vincent Millay to Robert Frost. With a poet's ear and a poet's grace of expression, Oliver shows what makes a metrical poem work - and enables readers, as only she can, to "enter the thudding deeps and the rippling shallows of sound-pleasure and rhythm-pleasure that intensify both the poem's narrative and its ideas."
Avg Rating
4.19
Number of Ratings
1,047
5 STARS
43%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
16%
2 STARS
2%
1 STARS
1%
goodreads
Author
Mary Oliver
Author · 42 books
Mary Jane Oliver was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
