The Poems in White Pine by Mary Oliver

Human consciousness is the thin, sometimes permeable, but always incredibly strong layer that separates the human being from the rest of nature. Like the attributes of any creature, consciousness of the human sort compels certain behaviors and one of these is to pay attention. This attention encompasses the compulsion to use all of our senses in interacting with the world around us. But, unlike the hummingbirds who stop and stare at the poet sitting in their tree, human consciousness carries the heavier burden of reflection. Assessment and reaction are there in other creatures. Poets in trees, in the judgment of a maternal hummingbird, seem to be harmless things but should be treated with caution. In the human act of attention hummingbirds are not, however, shrugged off the way the deer is indifferent to the leaves growing on its antlers or

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There is a thunderous, operatic quality to this figure and it carries the impact of the birds' arrival as the mere mention of hundreds of swans does not. The astonishment the poet felt is conveyed by this heightening of the reality she experienced. Following the crash of the simile the birds break up. As the water "broke and swirled / in excitement" the image turns to one in which parts--breasts and feet--of hundreds of birds contribute to the chaotic scene (34). The monolithic quality of the "forest"--signifying the overwhelming totality of the crowd of birds--is replaced by the usual amusing ruckus that a large number of birds can create. Things in the poem calm down from the high pitch they achieved with the arrival of a forest of birds and the poet turns to the following morning when the migrating birds were to be found "rising up / their wings creaking and whistling"--already assimilated by the poet and her friends, but still the object of special attention. The birds leave and the poet continues, "my life in Ohio / went on / everything was changed" (34). The change, which she dates from the moment of the birds' strange appearance, hints at transcendence but seems to refer to the mundane. The "Ohio" of the poem is s
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3519
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)