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I chose Wild Geese by Mary Oliver for this particular analysis. I found this poem to be one of the most interesting of our assigned readings. I originally picked this poem because of the title. I love animals and we have wild geese in our town. Most of them leave in the winter but we have some that stick out the winter and snow with all of the local residents. I am very familiar with geese.
So in this paper I will explore the symbolism, point-of-view, the imagery in this literary work, and finally my reactions to he poem. First we will explore the symbolism used in this story. There was not very much symbolism like most poems. This narrator is very blunt about the main issue, the loneliness felt by the antagonist. In the beginning the poem says “you do not have to walk on your knees” (Oliver, 1986) which symbolizes the fact that you do not have to belittle yourself or be down on yourself because of your situation.
You need to rise above that and Just love yourself is what is portrayed in the part of the sentence that says to let “your body love what it loves” (Oliver, 1986). Approach your problems head n. The last symbol used is the one where she says that they could tell each other their problems but that would not stop the world from going on around them. The sun will still shine and rain will still fall. Second element is the point-of-view. This poem is done in first person perspective.
First person point-of-view is when the narrator is a character in the literary work and describes what he or she does or says (Glutton, 2010). The character is not telling us her actions but it like we are the opposite person that she is giving advice to. Advice on how to fit in or find our place. She tells us to use our imagination to discover what the world has to offer. Then and only then we will find a sense of where we belong. Finally, the imagery. There was so much imagery used in this poem it was almost over whelming.
However when the protagonist says that the world will go on no matter what the problem is, I could see exactly what she meant. When she said was describing all the things that the sun touched and where the rain drops fell, I felt like I could see it all. I could see mountains with snow-capped peaks, flat brown prairies, forests with trees so tall they med to touch the sky, the rivers that lined the banks of the land, and then finally the geese flying high in the sky in their V formation as they head home.
I thought the author did a good Job describing the landscape. I used my imagination and what I know about the features described to see all the colors and fill in the gaps. When I first read this poem I felt sad for the person that was feeling lonely and out of place. No one should have to feel this way. As I reread Wild Geese, I did not feel as sad anymore because I felt like the person was choosing to be lonely, to an extent. All hey had to do was find a place that felt like home but that did not have to necessarily De none.
I found this poem to be slightly overwhelming with all the imagery. All the descriptions of landscape made it hard to focus on any other part of the poem. The protagonist goes to great lengths with land formations. I read this poem several times before I was able to gather any other details. However, all the imagery made it easy to picture almost all the landscape types on Earth. In conclusion I really enjoyed this poem, “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver. I felt as though I could relate to the main character.
The way she tells the antagonist that she can find a place to belong if he or she would Just use their imagination. I could see myself in the narrator’s shoes telling a friend the same type of things. Now I have covered the symbolism, point-of-view, the imagery in this literary work, and my reaction to the selected piece. I hope you enjoyed my insight and thoughts relayed in this paper.