The Summer Day | Mary Oliver | Famous Poems | Powerful Life-Changing Poetry

"The Summer Day" is a gorgeous poem by Mary Oliver. First published in 1990, the poem is simultaneously elegant and beautiful. A sense of wonder pervades through the poem as the poet seeks life&purpose and marvels at all things natural. The poem begins with the poet awe-struck at the scale and magnificence of creation. She then turns her attention to a tiny creature, a grasshopper, and its movements. Every little action of the grasshopper seems to her to be unique to that creature alone. She soaks in every little instant of the summer day in the simplest of ways. As the complex nature of creation consumes her she realises the importance of every little moment in life. She confesses that she does not have all the answers. She is seeking the very purpose of her life. Mary Oliver ends the poem by asking readers to think about their aims in life. Life is precious and death certain. Her message to readers is to find joy in every little instant, and not to procrastinate but instead to identify their unique purpose in the time that they have here in this world and then act on it. "The Summer Day" is simply worded and yet an extremely powerful and poignant poem. Full Poem: Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean — the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down — who is gazing around with her enormous and...