Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

Publishers Weekly

"I would rather write poems than prose, any day, any place" writes Mary Oliver, "Yet each has its own force." Her Long Life: Essays and Other Writings intersperses a few verses among prose pieces as various as "Dog Talk," "Emerson: An Introduction" and "Where I Live." As "Sand Dabs, Nine" puts it, "The energy of attempt is greater than the surety of stasis." Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oliver is best known for her collections of poetry (e.g., The Leaf and the Cloud). She is also the author of A Poetry Handbook, one of the quintessential tools of encouragement, advice, and direction for the budding poet. In this arresting anthology of 17 essays and ten poems, similar in style to Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs, Oliver takes her time word painting charmingly simple yet deeply enduring pictures of interactions among women and men, animals, and nature. She appears to etch each line with ease, which is the stamp of the professional, pointing out that prose is the softened, fleshy story, while poetry remains the stark revelation in writing. Each word touches the next, forming a virtual symphony of visuals. Daily tasks become touching rituals that define who we are, while the mundane is made sparkling, sometimes sharp, and even shattering yet never dull or lost owing to repetition. Recommended for large public and academic poetry and literary collections. Kim Harris, Rochester P.L., NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.