Dog songs : thirty-five dog songs and one essay

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Oliver, Mary, 1935-

Physical Description:

127 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.

Summary:

"Beloved by her readers, special to the poet's own heart, Mary Oliver's dog poems offer a special window into her world. Dog Songs collects some of the most cherished poems together with new works, offering a portrait of Oliver's relationship to the companions that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. To be illustrated with images of the dogs themselves, the subjects will come to colorful life here. These are poems of love and laughter, heartbreak and grief. In these pages we visit with old friends, including Oliver's well-loved Percy, and meet still others. Throughout, the many dogs of Oliver's life emerge as fellow travelers, but also as guides, spirits capable of opening our eyes to the lessons of the moment and the joys of nature and connection. Dog Songs is a testament to the power and depth of the human-animal exchange, from an observer of extraordinary vision"--

Subject Term:

Dogs -- Poetry.

Human-animal relationships -- Poetry.

Publication Info:

New York, New York : Penguin Books, 2015.

Subject:

Dogs -- Poetry.

Human-animal relationships -- Poetry.

Canis canis

Canis domesticus

Canis familiarus

Canis familiarus domesticus

Canis lupus familiaris

Dog

Domestic dog

Animal-human relationships

Animal-man relationships

Animals and humans

Human beings and animals

Man-animal relationships

Relationships, Human-animal

SAILS ISBN:

9780143125839

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Bridgewater Public Library	811 OLIVER 2015	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mattapoisett Free Public Library	811.54 OLI 2015	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Swansea Public Library	811.54 O	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wareham Free Library	811.54 OLI 2015	NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

"The popularity of [ Dog Songs ] feels as inevitable and welcome as a wagging tail upon homecoming." -- The Boston Globe

Mary Oliver's Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet's relationships to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Oliver's poems begin in the small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers, but through her extraordinary vision, these observations become higher meditations on the world and our place in it.

Dog Songs includes visits with old friends, like Oliver's beloved Percy, and introduces still others in poems of love and laughter, heartbreak and grief. Throughout, the many dogs of Oliver's life merge as fellow travelers and as guides, uniquely able to open our eyes to the lessons of the moment and the joys of nature and connection.

Reviews (1)

Library Journal Review

Winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Oliver (American Primitive) continues to build her legacy with this latest collection of new and selected poems, marking 50 years since her first book of poetry was published. Oliver's keen intuition of the natural world has allowed her to invent a poetic voice distinct to the American landscape and unmatched by that of her contemporaries. Here she is relaxed and at home in poems that read like songs and tell the stories of her companionship-the experience of love, trust, loss, grief, joy-with the animals she's spent a lifetime getting to know. In "Percy, Waiting for Ricky," the image is simple, the language straightforward, and the narrative complete, so the connection among the poet, her lines, and the reader is immediate, clarifying that reading poetry shouldn't be difficult: "Your friend is coming, I say/ to Percy and name a name// and he runs to the door, his/ wide mouth in its laugh-shape,// and waves, since he has one, his tail.// Emerson, I am trying to live"; then: "How// would it be to be Percy, I wonder, not/ thinking, not weighing anything, just running forward." -VERDICT Oliver makes writing poetry look easy, yet she requires your attention. For readers seeking tangible meaning, Oliver gives lines of plenty here.-Annalisa Pesek, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Excerpts

FIRST TIME PERCY CAME BACK The first time Percy came back he was not sailing on a cloud. He was loping along the sand as though he had come a great way. "Percy," I cried out, and reached to him- those white curls- but he was unreachable. As music is present yet you can't touch it. "Yes, it's all different," he said. "You're going to be very surprised." But I wasn't thinking of that. I only wanted to hold him. "Listen," he said. "I miss that too. And now you'll be telling stories of my coming back and they won't be false, and they won't be true, but they'll be real." And. then, as he used to, he said, "Let's go!" And we walked down the beach together. Excerpted from Dog Songs by Mary Oliver All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.