Personification, And Symbolism In Mary Oliver's Sleeping In The Forest

“I thought the earth remembered me, she took me back so tenderly,”( line1), introducing the earth as a female in the beginning of the poem“Sleeping In The Forest” was a bold move made by Mary Oliver. The poet uses metonymy, personification, and symbolism to move the direction of the audiences thought of a forest into a whole new idea of peace and softness. Her main idea is to show how men view women in their full integrity through the correspondence of a dark forest and a woman. The speaker is portrayed as a male figure and uses multiple literary devices to reach the point of clarity that women are assumed to be scary and mysterious but overall very gentle and comforting. With the use of metonymy throughout the poem, Oliver gives multiple metaphors of the speaker, comparing the forest to women. Personification was used to give objects in the forest a more realistic and relatable feel and to give the forest a more personified look for the audience. The speaker also utilized symbolism to show emotions that are evident through the use of objects or ideas. The focus on those specific three literary devices are used to sway the audience 's prior knowledge of a forest into a completely different thought, allowing the audience to see the forest as gentle and feminine. In addition, with the title “Sleeping In The Forest” the audience can infer that the male speaker is referring to sleeping with a woman.