Messenger

Mary Oliver begins her poem by stating “My work is loving the world” (Line 1). Oliver immediately inserts herself into the poem as the speaker, fully owning that her work in this lifetime has nothing to do with labor or expectations but is to simply “lov[e]” (Line 1) the world, just as it is. When Oliver begins this poem with “[m]y,” the reader is immediately prompted to allow her to bring them along for whatever wisdom she may bring. The “my” indicates that this poem is in first person; this, one can presume that the speaker and the poet—in this case—are the same. Oliver does not overtly impose her personal world view onto the reader; she simply states what her “work” (Line 1) is. This allows the reader to slip into Oliver’s dream-like descriptions of everyday life. “The sunflowers” and “the hummingbird” (Line 2) are highlighted as “equal seekers of sweetness” (Line 3), rather than mundane images of nature. The speaker notes that while seemingly different, the flower and the bird are equals in unexpected ways. This is a metaphor echoed throughout the poem as the speaker continues to highlight how much seemingly disparate elements of nature and humanity are in fact very much alike.