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.