The poem
Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean-- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?
i love that poem and that was very nice
What a beautiful and meaningful poem! It was the heart of a sermon last Sunday on "Abundant Living," one of the most profound I've ever heard. Mary Oliver sees the extraordinary in the ordinary, and suggests that each one of us has the potential to be extraordinary...maybe we are being extraordinary without even realizing it! "The Summer Day" reminds me of the play "Our Town."
I think it is a great poem and makes us appreciate the things around us.
Great poem!!
Thank you
Oliver
Where on earth are people getting this understanding of her poems i thought it was about a dying woman for gods sake hmmpf. She seems like a stupid woman anyway. She cant be that good if my family and i didnt know what she was talking about. We are very clever. Stupid stupid woman.
I had this poem for my GCSE, everyone found it really hard, but i understood you mary, i feel as if i know as a friend, thank you for this beautiful gift of a GCSE poem, i persoanally love u as a lesbian partne,r
I really felt i had a special connection with this poem as i also just did it for my gcse. I feel i have a special connection with the author as i am called mary and my boyfriend is called Oliver. I don't though you should of used a grasshopper, but maybe a butterfly as it has more freedom, and has a much more limited life. I hope we can meet someday in the heavens above. xx
The Summer Day
Hi Mary,
I would just like to say I have just had your poem for my GCSE literature. What made you write a poem about nothing? It has no relevance and you have just made me get an E in English, thanks I owe you one for ruining my future. I was planning to be a world known poet and have already written many poems about phallisity and feel it is my calling but not anymore. All because of you my phalic dream is over. Lovely chat. Molly
Who paid for it? What were they thinking?
This is one of the worst pieces of writing I have ever seen, and I have just watched the finale of Lost for Christ's sake. Mary, I would like to thank you for your abysmal poem that appeared in my GCSE paper on Tuesday, I would just like to ask, however, why did you write this? Did you have writer's block at the time? Was there nothing proper to write about so you just threw together some questions and a story about…
Read the whole commentThis is one of the worst pieces of writing I have ever seen, and I have just watched the finale of Lost for Christ's sake. Mary, I would like to thank you for your abysmal poem that appeared in my GCSE paper on Tuesday, I would just like to ask, however, why did you write this? Did you have writer's block at the time? Was there nothing proper to write about so you just threw together some questions and a story about a grasshopper? Now, I have read some of your other work, some of it was quite thought provoking and very good, but, this, I mean, Heat magazine has more deep metaphorical meaning. Also, one last note, I have always been taught that the one thing that separates poetry from prose is rhythm. Was it a last minute thing, and did you forget to add a rhythm, or a structure? Best wishes in your very short poetry career, maybe it will "die at last" but, judging from this piece, it won't be "too soon".
well mary lets be honest what the hell is going on in your brain! that poem was positvley horrific and i think everyone doing GCSES want to thank you for it!
none of it made sense and i think that we both no that! i have to agree with what mary chrichton said JOKES its a pile of rubbish and i hope u never write anything again!
i hope i see you sometime! maybe when the grasshopper floats away!
I perceived the poem as being very profound yet delicate, in the sense that life is a precious gift. Full of life, prayer and imitation. I liked the use of the grasshoper.. its random. It makes us appreciate more the smaller things in life emphasizing its beauty and contribution to life.
amazing
i am confused reading other's remarks. have they no soul? i love this poem, all life is sacred. mary reminds us to pay attention to the details of nature. for without our focus on it, we are dead.
summer day
one of the most beautiful poems ever written, you airhead dumptys, just way above your level of understanding and appreciation. Grow up.
guys you are misunderstanding
guys you are misunderstanding the point the poet Mary Oliver is trying to make where she used grasshopper to symbolise that unlike grasshopper we have been given a gift, which we know how to eat unlike grasshopper. a gift which we have been given a life which we have a sense of what wrong and right. a life which we dont have to stroll down a field unlike grasshopper. a life which we can enjoy, a life which we dont we dont satisfy doesnt matter what we do. at last what else could have done on our only one life