On Wild Geese and being different…

There is no other way that I can say it. I love ‘Wild Geese’. I have read the poem countless times since I first encountered it, and each time I read it, it moves me just a little bit more; I fall in love with it just a little bit more. It has that strange power over me- it simply gives me goose-bumps and every time I read Mary Oliver’s passionate address of sorts, I can almost picture her, standing on a high place, declaring non-conformity to the world.

How many times have you stopped yourself from doing something just because it did not seem right in the eyes of the world?

How many times have you kept quiet or hidden who you really are from the world, because you were afraid that you would not be accepted?

How many times have you felt guilty or self-reproachful for being different from the majority, for being the odd one out in the face of society?

How many times have you chided yourself and hated yourself for being imperfect and just not good enough?

How many times have you felt like a misfit?

You do not have to be good, says Mary Oliver. You do not have to be ‘good’ because what is the definition of good anyway? What does being ‘good’ entail? What does it take to be ‘right’?

 Every time I read ‘Wild Geese’ I am simply overcome by the feeling of freedom that it gives me. She emphasizes that there is no point in regret, or beating oneself up for not being ‘good’, for being different or for not conforming to the pressures and the boundaries of society. Her lines about crawling through the desert on your knees are a painful yet poignant image of the pointlessness of feeling guilty. Her words, almost like a conversational piece of advice that one would give us personally, are enough to lift us out of the pit of self condemnation that we have put ourselves in, simply for being different from the rest.

Each one of us is different from the other; hence each one of us is likely to feel the same sense of self loathing for being so. Through her poem, Mary Oliver calls out to each one of us therefore, to stop worrying about sticking to convention, and to let ourselves go. She wants us to only let the ‘soft animal of our body love what it loves’. This particular line, when I read it first, seemed to be directly connected to the ‘issue’ of homosexuality and the entire social stigma of alienation and differentiation that it may involve. However, I realized that it is applicable to anyone- anyone, who happens to love anyone or anything that is different from what seems to be ‘accepted’.

I feel a strong connection to the poet when she invites us to share our despair with her. It seems like she is a familiar friend, giving me a reassuring pat on my shoulder, understanding my misery of feeling like a misfit, and asking me softly to share my misery with her, so she too can share hers with me. For a brief second, I feel like she can read into my mind in that line, seeing all my miseries, identifying her own sadness with mine. She is no stranger to pain. I can actually get a peek into her despair, in the sheer heaviness of that line. Since her poem is addressed to a general reader and not any particular person, I get an essence of how universal pain is. It is something which her readers across the world feel all too well.

 While we are sharing our stories of pain and misery with each other, however, she reminds us that the world still exists. She brings us away from our melancholy by gently pointing out to us that the world is there for us, still beautiful, still pristine, no matter how sad we are. She tells us that it is when we are lonely, separated from the rest of mankind by our self described differences, that the world makes itself available to our imagination. It is then when we can actually let our creativity rule our world and set us free from the cage of conformity in which we were locking ourselves. She paints this beautiful image of pretty landscapes and wild geese calling out to us when we are at our lowest point, thus telling us that it is actually alright to be alone, and different. She calls out to us, no matter who we are; no matter how lonely we are, telling us that we will be just fine, for in all our loneliness, we still have our place in this complex world. In spite of all our differences and perplexing individualities, we still play our part in this marvelous drama called life.

Just like all the other seven odd billion people living on the earth, I too feel like a misfit. I too have my despair. I too have done things that have made me want to crawl through desert sands on my knees in repentance. But somehow, after reading ‘Wild Geese’, I feel at peace with being different. I feel alright with being me. It is for this very reason that I will always hold on to the words of this poem like a motto in my heart. I will walk through life loving who and what I love, because it is perfectly alright to do so. Because I do not have to be good. Because I dare to be different.

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Mary Oliver's 'The Wild Geese' - My Understanding

           Mary Oliver is a Pulitzer prize winning poet whose work is largely filled with imagery of the natural world. So is it in the poem 'The Wild Geese' where she seems to be having a personal conversation with the reader. She says that one does not have to be good, or physically strain oneself due to remorse. This may mean that she asks the reader to be what they are and proud of it, instead of being someone they are not just to be sanctioned by the society. Don't let people or situations alter you, instead yield to the instincts inside you even if it warrants you to feel sad, and when you feel sad, share it. The poet offers herself to be the one you share with, in the sense that you understand the poem to make you feel better.
           In the next line when the poet says 'Meanwhile the word goes on", a one-to-one conversation suddenly broadens and vanishes its boundaries to the universe. In the next few lines the imagery of nature is so vividly described, you feel it happening around you. This potentially means that the despair you so substantially feel is actually so insignificant in the universe. The universe, that is filled with lush grasslands, steep valleys, huge mountains and mighty rivers, THIS is home. THIS is where the wild geese are heading to. THIS is where you are. Universe. Home.
          How you are and what you are in life doesn't constitute to anything as long as you live it, live it your way, and thus you find a place in the family of things.


When I first read this poem, my first thought was 'how intriguing this seems, what inner meaning can it have?' When I read it, probably a hundered times more, I came to the conclusion that it is a very simple poem, written in an intriguing way. It drives home the thought that one should be what they are regardless of various external factors affecting them. Something about this poem that still doesn't cease to amaze me is how the poet has used simple words to convey her message in such an effective way.
                                                                                                                -  Nithya V

My Thoughts on Mary Oliver's - 'The Wild Geese'

What struck me as I read ‘The Wild Geese’ was that Mary Oliver had, in a few words, managed to evoke in me a feeling of freedom, hope, and security – The freedom to choose who I want to be,  Hope to be accepted for who I am, and security in staying accepted, for the rest of my life. And she did all of this, through beautiful imagery that lingered in my mind long after I’d finished reading the poem.

To me, the poem calls out to the pain, sadness, and insecurities of humans, as it did with mine and seems to say that it’s okay to have them. However it does also stress upon the idea that it’s important not to drown in them to an extent that you lose sight of the beauty and joy that the world has to give, and that is at your disposal. It also gives one a sense of assurance that one isn’t alone in the problems that seem to weigh life down – ‘Tell me about despair yours, and I will tell you mine’ – which automatically eases the burden a bit. 

She asks us, through a more personalised address ‘you’, to be ourselves. The poem seemed to tell me that we’re all essentially animals, and just as animals know nothing more than just being themselves, humans must not fret too much over societal norms and terms of behaviour and be themselves. One mustn’t feel obliged to do what is expected of her, and mustn’t hence be apologetic for it, shunning regrets.  

'You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting,

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves'

And through these lines and the ones that follow she addresses the issues of being ourselves and of accepting pain and moving on – perhaps the two most important lessons of life, often misunderstood   or even the hardest to carry out. We mustn’t tie ourselves to pre- established, boring norms, because every day that we spend indulging in them, is one day less spending time truly living, and enjoying what we could do instead, from what the world places before us. Furthermore, for all the lonely souls , who are alike in their despair, the world extends its arms, and these remain so, through the ups and downs of life, and so the world , in some sense always contains the ‘dawn’ that those who’re dejected await, just waiting to be discovered.

Thus Oliver weaves these ideas with imagery that is almost Romantic in its quality with its visual imagery and reverence of nature, thus producing a stream of flowing  advises that this poem is all about, to me. It culminates with a simple fact of assurance that despite all the pain, suffering, the confusion – one’s own individuality finds its place in the world, because we’re all a part of a grand scheme of things, fitting in together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. 

“Wild Geese”: My Understanding

“Wild Geese” is written by Mary Oliver. It seems like she is having a conversation with us. She uses the words ‘you’ and ‘your’ throughout the poem that make this obvious.

In the beginning of the poem she is telling us that it is fine not to be perfect and that we do not have to think that we are alone. She goes on to say that it is important that we let our heart love what it loves. And while we share our despairs with each other, the world would go on and the sun would shine and the rain would pour. Also the wild geese, up in the clean blue air, would fly back home again. She tells us that whoever we are, no matter how lonely, the world is offering itself to us, to our imagination. The world calls to us like the wild geese, in a harsh and exciting tone; over and over again, announcing our place in this universe.

Mary Oliver through this poem tells us that the world is as big as our imagination. And everything in it belongs to us. We do not have to be perfect to find a place in this universe. She tells us that it is alright to be alone, to be in despair, to not be good. She tells us that we can never be alone because the world will always be our own. She tells us that while we stop to deal with our problems the world still goes on, the sun still shines, the rain still pours and the birds still fly. Most importantly, Mary Oliver tells us to let our heart love whatever it wants to. She also tells us in a way that our imagination can take us places.

When I read the poem for the very first time I did not understand a thing Mary Oliver was trying to convey. The next few times I read it, I made myself hear what she was trying to tell me. That’s when I got it. I felt like I was not alone anymore. That I had some sort of significance in this world, I had some sort of purpose. That may be the world would not be the same without me. The world is just like my imagination, it is mine, it is limitless and it is what I make it to be. Mary Oliver also made me realise that it is alright to listen to my heart, it is fine to let it love. She made me realise how we and nature are similar on so many levels. She touched my heart through this poem. And it is something I will keep with me to remind me that I am important and that I do in fact make a difference.

My Mind and Wild Geese

When I was younger, I wanted to be an astronaut with all my heart and soul. I wanted to get on a rocket and zoom out of Earth's atmosphere, into outer space. I still want to be an astronaut, however improbable it might sound. Whenever I look at the stars, read a book or watch a documentary on astronomy, I always feel insignificant. When I’m in the worst of moods, I comfort myself  by thinking about all the people who have it worse off. My despair is nothing compared to the horrible things happening in this world. So why should I feel it at all? My feelings, my planet, my solar system are all insignificant next to the rest of the universe.

But Mary Oliver doesn't  want to dismiss the individual’s despair. On the other hand, she seems to acknowledge it fully. The first few lines of the poem are breathtakingly intimate. She speaks of the despair of the individual, creating an image of open arms in my mind, welcoming me and all the evil and good inside me.

The next lines: “Meanwhile the world goes on,” suddenly expanded my whole vision of the poem. From something that seemed stunningly intimate, the poem expanded to... Well, pretty much everything. Mary Oliver goes on to create a breathtaking image right in front of my eyes. Mountains, rivers, deep trees, the sun and rain moving across the landscape and geese flying across the sky, and before I know it, that dreadful feeling of being utterly insignificant seems to be creeping up my spine again. What am I next to this divine beauty?

And then, with a few simple lines, Mary Oliver brings me into this painting.

“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination.

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.”

And there, my feeling of insignificance vanishes. Because maybe I’m a part of this world. Because maybe along with a million others things, I make the world what it is. Because without me or without you or without that ugly little scratch on your computer screen, the world would be different. So maybe we’re not all that insignificant. Maybe the significance I look for so desperately doesn’t have to be at the end of an eyeball-socket-tearing rocket ride to outer space, maybe it’s right here. Where I am, where you are, where anything is. Right here, smack in the middle of the family of things.

- Shikha Sreenivas

"The wild geese" by Mary Oliver

From the beginning till the end of the poem the poet uses ‘you’ repeatedly, giving the poem a personalized tone.  She says that you shouldn't have to bow down to societal constraints or put yourself through hardships to repent what you might have done in the past. Instead you should be able to embrace what comes naturally to you. The line ‘ .. let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.’ seems to refer to the way animals rely solely on their instinct. It is this instinct that should overpower your rational thinking so as to enable you to love what you love.

The line “ tell me about … the world goes on” seems to convey that, the world is not going to stop for you, it will not judge you by your actions. Instead it will go on as it always did, molding itself around you, accepting you.  The poet goes on to explore various images of nature- the sun, rain and its movement across landscapes, as well as the landscapes themselves. The poet talks of the wild geese, which “high in the clean blue air, are heading home again”. The geese are used as a metaphor for the kind of person that the poet wishes for you to be; ‘high’ as in happy and free and ‘heading home’, the word home denoting a family, where you are accepted with all your flaws and gifts, alike.

As the poem goes on the poet seems to expand the horizons of the poem, beginning with a personalized you, and then expanding it to nature (including the sun, birds etc) to finally end with your imagination. She says that “the world offers itself to your imagination” making the world only as big as your imagination.  It beckons to you, like the geese, to announce your place “in the family of things”.

                  THE WILD GEESE BY MARY OLIVER 

"The Wild Geese" is a hopeful poem where the poet brings about a sense of understanding and truth unlike the general mindset of the world being a really oppressing place for those who undergo the stage of repentance. Mary Oliver clearly states that the world is not an extremely harsh place to deal with and that one should take their stand in order to fulfill the dreams which are the wishes that a heart makes.

In the beginning the poet expresses that it is accepted to love ourselves for the person we are and to follow our animal instincts. We ought to bear in mind that there is no need to drive ourselves through oppression, trials, honors and sacrifices if we cannot love and appreciate what we are doing. To err is human and self trials or merciless repentance does not solve the problems. An act of loving oneself, accepting the mistakes and living through grace and forgiveness will shower the feeling of acceptance. What is worth is to do what we love and be merciful to ourselves.

The poet shows a helping hand to oppressed and desperate mind to pour out the grief of unforgettable scars and unforgivable sins .A  common saying goes “laugh,and the world laughs with you;Weep,and you weep alone",but she talks about sharing each other’s despair as she concludes the world to be moving at a pace unreachable. This points out the fact that she sends out two opposite messages where she mentions the world to not be a place that shuts itself to ones imagination as well as it being a world of fast progress.

The poet offers to our attention, the beautiful imagery of nature where our feelings are not compared to it but it is portrayed as a source of comfort to those who seek for it. The geese are called back home through sentiments and we need to replace ourselves with the geese where we are called back through the very same. Referring to the message conveyed, the world is open to imagination as long as we have something to offer to the world. A firm stand taken would make it easier for the world to explore one’s imagination. In time, one would feel accepted genuinely  as the world moves on at the fast pace.

     My Understanding Of The Poem-Wild Geese By Mary Oliver

It appears to be a heart-to-heart conversation between the poet and the reader.

The poet uses the elements of nature to convey her message to us in a very beautiful and a scenic manner which makes us feel like we are experiencing nature itself.

She says that we do not have to be good and to move on with our lives rather than asking for pardon so focusing on the beauty of life as well as surviving its everyday challenges and difficulties. She asks us to love ourselves and not be drowned in our miseries and that the world goes on no matter what, suggesting that we are not the only ones to have to face difficulties while it is our human tendency to look at our difficulties being higher than the others .But having said that offers her shoulders to lean on. The mention of wild geese, suggests that people are like wild geese because both wild geese and humans have a place in this world.

“The world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting— over and over announcing your place in the family of things” tells us that the calling of the world to humans is like the calling of the wild geese in a sense that they’re both harsh and exciting and that to be imaginative and to shed loneliness by discovering our place “in the family of things”namely, the family of sun and rain, prairies and trees, mountains, rivers, and, ultimately, wild geese flying home.

Thus in this way,a poem so casually written manages to be stimulating and very powerful!

"WILD GEESE"

Mary Oliver is one of America’s best-loved poets. Her luminous poetry celebrates nature and beauty, love and the spirit, silence and wonder, extending the visionary American tradition of Whitman, Emerson, Frost and Emily Dickinson.

Wild Geese is a selection of her best-known poems, including the title-poem and 'The Journey'.

Summary And A Brief Analysis::

--“You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.”

(We all make mistakes in life and we all have regrets. We have an impulse to somehow make amends, to ask for penance, to suffer for our sins. Instead we need to deal with these mistakes, just like animals do, and not ask for do-overs. We need to live with the consequences and not beat up ourselves over it.)

--“You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.”

(Do not let these impulses for do-overs’ overpower your innate instincts to seek joy. We are inherently good and while some of our choices may have been bad... that is not our nature and we must never lose our basic good nature.)

--“Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.”

(Let us discuss our observations and conclusions of our behaviors that cause us distress. We will each see that we are not alone in this.)

--“Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.”

(We can be so self-absorbed in our suffering that we lose sight of the fact that no one else is affected by our inner turmoil. We magnify these troubling thoughts way beyond their significance. All this while the world continues to move on, waiting for no one.)

--“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,”

(Your frame of mind is a matter of perception. You can spend all your time weighed down by thoughts of the past and what you might have/should have done. Or you can open your eyes to the present and all the mundane beauty there is to be harvested by simply taking the time to let it wash over you.)

--“calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.”

(We're all really the same bunch of conflicting emotions and defensive stances. Allow yourself to be authentic in all things, allow your good will to drive it all, what makes life interesting is that we all have something unique to offer, for the greater good of life and nature. And mainly, we all belong.)

--Also, I think she is reminding us that we, like the wild geese, are first and foremost animals. We inhabit the same world as other animals and we , like them, should respond to our environment in a natural, animalistic way. She wants the reader to find his/her place in the world.

Animals don't have a concept of right and wrong; they don't have regrets; they don't punish themselves for behavior that is in their nature. She is telling us that we should exult in our bodies and not be ashamed of them. Accept them, and move on. However difficult things may seem, there’s always that silver lining. We shouldn’t let the world move on without us, due to our troubling thoughts. But instead harvest them for the greater good.

The main theme in her poem as seen is- ‘Nature and Humanity’ , and how they differ. Not only that but how animals and humans differ. Animals don’t let their mistakes stop them from moving on with their lives, where as we humans, let our emotions get the better of us and threaten not only our judgment but also our zest for life.  All in all, she just wants to help those lost souls, find the light again and move on.

-Nivedita Rao

A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE “WILD GEESE” BY MARY OLIVER

The poem `Wild Geese’ by Mary Oliver is arresting from the first line when she invites you into an ongoing conversation which adds a personal touch to her thoughts. She describes the practice of adhering to social norms as unnatural behavior to the human nature yet an important part of the social fabric. When the poet says that you don’t have to be good she seems to have forethought that the reader is of a conservative background and is a perfectionist who has a habit of finding fault with herself for not matching up to the standards of the society. She seems to encourage the reader to find her place in the World.

The poet asks us not to let our sense of self-righteousness overpower our innate sense to seek joy and thereby be true to our basic nature when she asks us to –“let the soft animal of our body love what it loves”.

 Nature seems to be as important a character as the reader herself .The difference in Mary Oliver’s perception of it is that nature plays the role of a comforting and sympathetic friend rather than a character in comparison. The poet uses vivid imagery, the landscape maybe used to distract the reader from a state of despair; the figures of speech may be meant to signal to the reader a sense of distance on the part of the poet, a playfulness and release from the all-too-human confrontation.

The usage of “over and over” must mean that the poet knows her friend won’t respond immediately to the idea of opening her imagination up to this new-old world; “harsh and exciting” conveys the energy in the call, the insistence of its urging.

Understanding Mary Oliver's "The Wild Geese"

Mary Oliver's poem is supportive and comforting, even though she reminds us of the pain and loneliness we face in life. She starts off with a clear instruction of not having to be "good" in the way the word is perceived by most. Oliver gives us the freedom of letting our guilt fall away as she tells us that we need not hold on to -- and torture ourselves with -- the mistakes we may have made in the past. She lets us feel comfortable with the idea of letting our body "love what it loves." In a world that is full of discrimination, and also full of institutions to prevent such discrimination, Oliver promotes individuality by saying that we must follow our "animal" instincts and not tune ourselves to what the world wants us to love nor what it wants us to be. It reminds me of the need to fit in as children; of asking our parents for the latest toy in the market just because everyone else has it. If Oliver's idea of individuality was ingrained in us as children maybe we would all be different people today.

When the poet talks about sharing each others despair it sends out two opposing messages to me: On one hand, she seems to be saying that she is there for us and is willing to take the burden of our despair; she gives us a sense that the world cares. Yet, in the next line she talks of the world moving on and shows us how insignificant our problems are in the world. This can, however, be comforting too because we know that in time our despair will vanish as the world will forgive and forget. The poet uses this opportunity of the world moving on to bring in nature and show us how the sun, the trees, the geese and all of nature keeps going on in the path it has carved for itself

Toward the end of the poem, Oliver talks of loneliness and our place in the world. She once again comforts us and explains that no matter how lonely we may think we are, we have the world and our own imagination at our disposal. Her mention of our "place" in the world reminds me of the concept of double infinity. We can either feel completely insignificant and let the size of our world overwhelm us or we can feel like we are the centre of all important things. The poet advises us to find our place somewhere in the middle as we can see from her constant reminder of the massive world and our place in it.

'The Wild Geese' - a critical appreciation

The most immediate thing that strikes you when you take a first glance at this poem is the sheer imagery and visual impact created by the poet’s words – playing with the beautiful elements of nature. The poet captures the splendor of the natural world around us – the everyday cycle of life which we fail to appreciate, and uses it to reflect on our innermost human sorrows and desires.

While the word ‘good’ may have varied implications, the poem starts off with a clear instruction that ‘you do not have to be good’; ‘good’ meaning the rigid norms dictated by human society. What good is it if we waste our lives away tormenting ourselves because of the passions that our hearts desire but do not find acceptance in the eyes of those around us? We do not have to punish ourselves for following our birth right – loving what we love.

The phrase ‘soft animal’ appears to be an oxymoron; while ‘soft’ refers to something gentle and calm, ‘animal’ usually creates an image of wildness and freedom. This combination evokes a sort of mixed emotion – is the animal  inside you the softest creature that would contentedly and effortlessly follow your heart’s true desires if only you let it free? And how do you connect with this ‘animal’ inside of you? Perhaps it is the easiest of all things once you get past the complexities that you yourself have created within your mind and allow yourself to look deeper and beyond.

The poet then skillfully draws out that while we're busy drowning in the sea of our sorrows, the rest of the universe still continues to exist – continues to follow its natural cycle. No despair is so great that another human being hasn't been through, though it is our selfish human tendency again to place our sorrows higher than other people’s. The ‘wild geese’ are brought forth twice in the poem to emphasize on the call of freedom and self-acceptance that the poet primarily tries to convey throughout.

In a massive world populated by millions of souls on the pursuit of happiness and contentment, it is not uncommon to be miserably lonely at many points of life. When we find ourselves at the bottom of this pit, the poem reminds us of how much strength and inspiration we can draw from the natural world around us – the beauty of which is so easily taken for granted. We need only open our senses to appreciate the countless blessings that the universe showers upon us every day and the undulating beauty that offers a feast to our limitless imagination; a sweet escape from the harshness of life.

Mary Oliver concludes the poem in a beautiful arrangement. The call of the ‘Wild Geese’ – a call for freedom and belonging, announces one’s true place in the ‘family of things’. No matter what we believe in or what our hearts seek; there is always a place for each and everyone in the family of the universe. Even if the sophisticated, human-made society does not understand us for who we are, there is a haven for anyone who seeks solace in the most rustic nature of the world - where beauty is what lies right before the eyes.