The writing career of poet Mary Oliver spans three decades. She has produced thirteen volumes of poetry and prose and two books on the craft of writing poetry. Oliver's poetry offers a transcendental view of the natural world in terms accessible to the...

At the onset of her career as a poet, Mary Oliver seems almost literally to have followed in the footsteps of Edna St. Vincent Millay, whose lyrical manner influenced Oliver's early work. Both were "country bred," studied at Vassar, and found an...