The poem
Have you ever seen anything in your life more wonderful
than the way the sun, every evening, relaxed and easy, floats toward the horizon
and into the clouds or the hills, or the rumpled sea, and is gone-- and how it slides again
out of the blackness, every morning, on the other side of the world, like a red flower
streaming upward on its heavenly oils, say, on a morning in early summer, at its perfect imperial distance-- and have you ever felt for anything such wild love-- do you think there is anywhere, in any language, a word billowing enough for the pleasure
that fills you, as the sun reaches out, as it warms you
as you stand there, empty-handed-- or have you too turned from this world--
or have you too gone crazy for power, for things?
I am constantly touched at how she will stop at the hight of such a romantic poem to stop and speak to whoever her audience is. She sets up this charged emotional/romantic sensation and then as you sit, leaning forward into the poem because of your interest of its beauty...she almost stops, turns around, looks at you, and forces you on stage...and then you have to think about an answer for her. she does this in The Rabbit, I believe, only her audience is death. It's such a suprising thing to encounter in a poem.
Please can someone tell me in what book Mary Oliver's "The Sun" is published? thank you.
This is a beautiful and powerful lyric poem. I am reciting it for Speech Arts. The ending is especially powerful as it makes us feel guilt about our the industrialization of the world and our neglect of nature.
poetry
I NEED HELP FOR MY HOMEWORK ON THE SUN BY MARY OLIVER
the sun by mary oliver
can you help me understand her use of the word billowing in this poem