biography

born Sept. 10, 1935, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

American poet whose work reflects a deep communion with the natural world.

Oliver attended Ohio State University and Vassar College but did not earn a degree. She worked for a time as a secretary for the sister of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay’s influence is apparent in Oliver’s first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems (1963). These lyrical nature poems are set in a variety of locales, especially the Ohio of Oliver’s youth. Her childhood plays a more central role in The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems (1972), in which she attempted to re-create the past through memory and myth. The Night Traveler (1978) explores the themes of birth, decay, and death through the conceit of a journey into the underworld of classical mythology. In these poems Oliver’s fluent imagery weaves together the worlds of humans, animals, and plants.

Reluctant to sit for interviews, Mary Oliver prefers to be known through her work, which in the end best defines her as an individual as well as a poet. Choosing to deflect interest in herself as a personality, the writer seems happy simply to dissolve into her poetry.