The Wild Geese

She talks about how there is so much to do in the world by saying “Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, / the world offers itself to your imagination, / calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting” (14-16). What Mary Oliver is saying in these lines is that even if we might be lonely, the world is a very exciting, interesting place and we should make the most of our time in the world. In these lines, the poet states “the world offers itself to your imagination.” In this quote, it is evident that the author uses personification as she gives human qualities (which in this case is the act of offering) to an object or an idea (the world). Using the human-like quality of offering, the world is being provided as an outlet of creativity and imagination just waiting to be explored. The poet wants to convey that we should explore and acknowledge all the positive things that the world has to offer, and as stated earlier…

Faulkner’s depiction of Jewel through a horse. Jewel's relationship with his horse also symbolizes his strong-willed decision to separate himself from the rest of the Bundren family. It is stated that Jewel is not biologically a Bundren child; however, he deliberately emphasizes his desire to detach from the family through cultivating such a strong relationship with the horse. In order to buy the horse initially, Jewel had to work every night, lying to his family with the exception of Addie, who…

Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese” begins with a reminder to the reader, or a revelation to some, that we do not have to be good. Whatever guilt, shame, whatever confessions we hold inside, can be let go. We do not always have to repent, either. Why? Because we, too, are animals like the wild geese. Instead of suffering, or spending our lives trying to find forgiveness, we only have to do what we love to do. This is a relief to the reader, and after reading the first few lines we are softened,…

their readers, but they can use complex and confusing strategies to tell their stories. There are many aspects that make Wild Geese by Mary Oliver effective, including imagery and point of view, but the most important part of the poem is symbolism. The other aspects of the poem point to the symbolism. Point of view brings out an interesting side of Wild Geese. The speaker is talking to someone like they are giving a lesson. The speaker is giving advice about what he or she has learned in their…

“Wild Geese”, is a considerably inspiring poem that makes me think of freedom. The freedom to ignore any self-restrictions and to be who you are. This poem is written in free verse; it has very little structure, containing only one stanza and eighteen lines. There are no meter or rhymes in this poem. This seems to reflect nature in the way that it is constantly changing, and is not constricted. It is written in second person, in a conversational tone. By doing so, the persona of the narrator…

I made some basic notes on the poem denoting where I would break or which words I would emphasize. I then went back through the poem and examined it more closely, looking for things like relative emphases within a given line or phrase, or which words were most important and how to convey their importance through speech—by slowing down, by being more forceful in delivery, and so forth. Having previously performed one of Mary Oliver’s poems (“Wild Geese”), this poem felt somewhat familiar to…

ADAM-SANTOS, STEPHANIE. “Mary Oliver’s ‘Wild Geese.’” SharkPackPoetry. 4 March 2014. https://sharkpackpoetry.com/2014/03/04/mary-olivers-wild-geese/ This post is an in-depth analysis that touches on the deeper meanings beyond Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese.” Adams goes further than most when she mentions how Oliver’s poem deviates from the standard Judeo-Christian code of human belonging and human nature itself. Overall, this post hits heavily on the fact that Oliver has once again tried to bring…

1. Firoozeh doesn't encourage her parents to learn English because of the wave of immigration, which brought some of Iran to America. Throughout the chapter, Hot Dogs And Wild Geese, the author explains that she has always encouraged her parents to learn English, however, they were never able to fully learn, understand, and speak the language, especially her mother. However, since the wave of immigration, Firoozeh felt comfortable giving up on her parents because Iranian newspapers, television,…

Excuse me, where is the elbow grease? When it comes to immigrating, simply learning the language is not enough. In order to assimilate into a new country, one must not only learn the language and culture, but also be capable of translating the culture back into language. So is the story of a young girl who immigrated with her family to the United States when she was just seven years old. In her essay “Hot Dogs and Wild Geese,” Firoozeh Dumas illustrates the challenges she and her family…

Path To Deterioration American author, Cassia Leo, once wrote, “The quickest path to self-destruction is to push away the people around you” (Leo). Leo is claiming that loneliness easily causes the destruction of a human. In Jon Krakauer’s novel Into the Wild, he showcases a similar opinion on solitude through the story of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless runs away from his family and former life to start one of his own, by himself, in the Alaskan wilderness. Similarly, in Ray Bradbury’s novel…