House of Light

I just love Mary Oliver. I think her poetry is stunningly beautiful and profound. Starting from the natural elements that surround us she weaves a world of beauty, enchantment and love. Philosophical, thoughtful and full of feeling for the world both seen and unseen.

This is poetry for people who struggle to appreciate its traditional forms (like me), whose brains are concrete-centric. You'll want to take your time and allow each one to sink in. Since for the most part, they're about the natural world, there is no fluff, no buffer from reality. Some are heartbreaking. But there's also hope here, and humor. You may find that some lines echo in your head, as they have in mine. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" from The Summer Day. And, ". . . maybe death isn't darkness, after all, but so much light wrapping itself around us - . . . " from White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field. This collection was published almost 35 years ago and I hope that in another 35 years the places that Ms. Oliver wrote about will exist just as they did then. But even if they don't, we have her extraordinary vision to connect us to the natural world.

Ever since I became enamored of Mary Olliver as poet, I have enjoyed collections of her often brief, moving, and deeply spiritual poetry. HOUSE OF LIGHT is one of several thin volumes of poems, written over several decades, that permit one to bring these jewels of poetic art along without being a heavy thick book, so you could carry Mary in your luggage or your briefcase or backpack. This is simply a lovely piece of work.

4.3 stars rounds down to 4. A fine collection of poems, nearly all nature writing. I enjoy reading Mary Oliver's work, and no less with House of Light as well. Recommended for all fans of her nature poetry. By the way, it has a beautiful cover.

Can't imagine that Mary Oliver would ever disappoint me! Wisdom, beauty, truth flow from her like a fresh mountain stream. Go ahead. Indulge yourself. Sit in your favorite quiet place. Preferably in nature. Let your spirit soak in these amazing pictures she paints with words. Bet you find yourself savoring the images. So. Now. Go on. Let you own light shine!

The first Mary Oliver poem I ever read was stapled to a gift basket I received from my company. The occasion was the death of my mother. I read the poem over and over, transfixed, unable to picture anything but the ending image of the transcendent light washing us from our bones. This poem went straight to my core and has never left, 3 years later. She was cremated, delivered to the light, and somehow it was right and fitting that this poem become my sole and proprietary piece of connection. Her works are soaring and filled with buoyancy. Her vision and quiet observation of the world has captured me gently, gently.

I like Mary Oliver's work, period. House of Light invites the reader on a journey to awareness of natural and simple everyday things, which take on a specialness in the chosen words of Mary Oliver. I can see Mary Oliver as a "Universalist" and a darn good one at that. The awarness about which I write is that which leads to insight and love of things in nature. It is like reading about these wonders, and seeing them for the first time from your heart. There is also the gift of interior silence that is created in your soul as you "SEE" that which you read. It is no wonder that "House of Light" was the winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Donald J. Da Ros

If you appreciate personal and thoughtfully philosophical reflections on our connections with the non-human natural world you will love this book. It is poetic, poignant and at times quite unsentimental. She is a loving and quirky truthteller and for me, reading her words is always invigorating.

More than a collection of poems. A symphony, an interrupted music that is floating above the fields. A beauty.

Mary Oliver's poems help me to gain deeper insight and relationship to the natural world and myself as an integral part of it. She speaks of ordinary things in ordinary - in the sense of being readily accessible - language that is inspiring. At the same time there are metaphors that pull me up, cause me to reflect, and take me deeper.

That was in 1984, and I fell in love with her poetry immediately. The book was difficult for me to find in Australia at that time, and I never got around to acquiring it. It's only with her death that I looked for it online and bought it on Kindle. I just read it all through again. Yes, it still enchants, moves and uplifts me.

Oliver’s poetry is a journey of emotion and reaches everyone, even those who feel out of reach.

I love this book, I love Mary Oliver's writing so how could it fail to please. It is full of life, good things and the pleasure of really seeing what is all around us.