Crossing The Swamp Mary Oliver

In Mary Oliver’s “Crossing the Swamp”, the reader follows an unnamed narrator as he traverses a dangerous swamp. The narrator remarks that the swamp is endless with infinitely long branching vines. While the narrator crosses the swamp, he constantly searches for footholds while being painted with mud and grass. As the narrator slowly sinks into the mud, he saves himself by finding a dry stick to pry his way out of the muck. At the end of the poem, the narrator reflects upon how although there is suffering in life, there is still joy. In her poem, Oliver uses a combination of concrete poetry and formatting to make the poem look like a treacherous pathway. Much like the narrator, the reader must traverse the jaggedly formatted poem to find the meaning within Oliver’s vivid description. Through the use of concrete poetry, the reader is able to connect with the narrator’s perilous journey. But as the poem ends, the formatting becomes more organized and easier to read, reflecting the narrator’s experience of being saved from the dangerous swamp. …show more content…
Our lives are filled with “branching vines”, “belching bogs”, and “pathless, seamless, peerless mud”, my life being no exception. One swamp that I had to cross was when I was diagnosed with depression in the spring of 2016. During this time, I was extremely overwhelmed with my school work, part-time lifeguarding job, diving career, and on top of it all, figuring out what college I would attend. I was beginning to crack under the pressure of having to keep perfect grades, to score high enough at meets, and to make a college decision. I felt like I was sinking “into the black, slack earthsoup” like the narrator in “Crossing the Swamp”. I was losing my footing in all of my activities, and it began to affect me