She also asks important questions, such as 'have you ever dared to be happy/. Spanning more than 50 years and featuring more than 200 poems, the collection shows Oliver, in the early years, turning away from grief and finding in nature a 'vast, incredible gift.' Over time, as she carefully observes and records, Oliver extols the beauty and complexity around her and reminds us of the interconnectedness of living.

“In Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver (Penguin), one of our most beloved writers offers both the best of her work and a spiritual road map of sorts. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Identified as 'far and away, this country's best selling poet' by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.Ĭarefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career. “It’s as if the poet herself has sidled beside the reader and pointed us to the poems she considers most worthy of deep consideration.” - Chicago Tribune Perhaps more important, the luminous writing provides respite from our crazy world and demonstrates how mindfulness can define and transform a life, moment by moment, poem by poem.” - The Washington Post

“No matter where one starts reading, Devotions offers much to love, from Oliver's exuberant dog poems to selections from the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Primitive, and Dream Work, one of her exceptional collections. A New York Times Bestseller, chosen as Oprah's 'Books That Help Me Through' for Oprah's Book Club

New and selected poems by mary oliver