Preview

Analysis of “Where Does the Temple Begin. Where Does It End?” by Mary Oliver

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1500 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of “Where Does the Temple Begin. Where Does It End?” by Mary Oliver
Sultan Qaboos University- Language Centre

FPEL EEAL0560 Poetry Project File

Analysis of “Where Does the Temple Begin. Where does it end?” by Mary Oliver

[pic]

Name: Eman Amer Salim AL-amri .

ID Number:102400.

Section: 350 .

Submitted to : Nicholas Hilmers.

Where Does the Temple Begin,

Where Does It End?

There are things you can’t reach.

But you can reach out to them, and all day long.

The wind, the bird flying away.

The idea of God.

And it can keep you as busy as anything else, and happier.

The snake slides away; the fish jumps, like a little lily, out of the water and back in; the goldfinches sing from the unreachable top of the tree.

I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.

Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around as though with your arms open.

And thinking: maybe something will come, some shining coil of wind,

or a few leaves from any old tree –they are all in this too.

And now I will tell you the truth.

Everything in the world comes.

At least, closer.

And, cordially.

Like the nibbling, tinsel-eyed fish; the unlooping snake.

Like goldfinches, little dolls of gold fluttering around the corner of the sky

of God, the blue air.

Glossary:

Lily: “type of plant that grows from a bulb and that has large white or coloured flowers”.

Finch: “is a small bird with strong beak”.

The poem where does the temple begin, where does it end? Was Written by Mary Oliver and Published in 2004 by Beacon Press in the book Why I Wake early. Mary Oliver is one of the most famous American poets. She was born s on September 10, 1935 Maple Heights, Ohio. Her job is poet and she has taught at several universities. Furthermore she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 the L. L. Win ship/PEN New England Award in 1990 and the National Book Award in 1992, and her essays appeared in Best American Essays 1996, 1998 and 2001.( www.wikipedia.org) Oliver loves nature and it inspiration and describes the sense of wonder it instills



Bibliography: Oxford dictionary Oxford University Press 2006 printed in china www.panhala.net/Archive/Index.htmlRetrieved on 19112012 (the poem) Retrieved on 21112012 www.wikipedia.org Retrieved on 24112012 Oliver is book” Why I Wake early” www.amazon.com Retrieved by Tina Silva on 1122012 collection of Oliver is poems http://rinabeana.com/poemoftheday/index.php/category/mary-oliver Retrieved on 3122012 an article by Ratner Rochelle written on Apr 15, 2006 www.connection.ebscohost.com Retrieved on 12122012 Image for Oliver www.google.com [pic]

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    At first the purpose of the passage “Owls” by Mary Oliver is difficult to pinpoint. This is because Oliver begins with describing the penetrating fear of a “terrible” (33) great horned owl, and suddenly develops into a section discussing a desultory and trivial field of flowers. The mystifying comparison between the daunting fear of nature and its impeccable beauty is in fact Oliver’s purpose.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cohen makes a good case against the hypocritical reasons that the British gave for their treatment of the Native Americans. First, the British did not value the civilization they thrust themselves upon even though it had been successful for thousands of years. The "new world" was not technologically advanced like many European inventions such as the globe, and the black powder weapon; which gave the British the idea that their superior knowledge made them worth more as human beings. Submission to their rule was only alternative for Native Americans. Failing that, then force and treachery were a way to handle the "savages".…

    • 102 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Losing a loved one is difficult, but questioning if they are really or not alive takes a toll on one’s daily life. In Heaven’s Keep, Jo’s plane disappears without a trace and no one can seem to find it until people start digging deeper into the story. Her husband Cork, son Stephen, and family friend Palmer set out to find what really happened on that plane and where Jo really went. Visualizing Aurora, Minnesota, evaluating where the airplane went, and questioning how Jo died is simple because the author used great detail in the book Heaven’s Keep.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I’ve read a lot of things about “fear.” There’s the fear of failing in the eyes of others, the fear of self-failure and God-failure, the fear of what other think about me, fears of an unknown future, and many practical fears about family and friends with their jobs and illnesses and relationships. While the kind of fears I normally deal with are important, the kind of fear Thurman writes about is different in its oppressive, relentless pursuit to dispossess and marginalize. The fear Thurman talks about is the concrete, real presence of political and religious powers who use their powers and religion to crush the spirits of people. He writes: “Fear is one of the persistent “hounds of hell” that dog the footsteps of the poor, the dispossessed, the disinherited… When the power and the tools of violence are on one side, the fact that there is no available and recognized protection from violence makes the resulting fear deeply terrifying.” And: “There are few things more devastating than to have it burned into you that you do not count and that no provisions are made for the literal protection of your person.” Of course not all fear is bad. God made us so to fear the tornado that spins on the horizon, heading our way. Not to fear this is not to care about friends and families. This is fear as, says Thurman, a “safety device.”…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    She dreamed that she was running from the river, but the water kept catching up to her and pulling her under. It was so real that she could feel the water burning her nostrils and filling her ears and lungs. As she fought against the rising water, a giant eagle suddenly scooped her up out of the water. In its talons, she hung as limp as a rag doll. The tree tops, brushed against her body, tearing at her flesh and her clothes as he flew- Suddenly, he dove downward and she thought that he might land, but then he flew upward, higher and higher into the sky he went, carrying her along with…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston exposes the story of the love life of Janie. The relationship between Janie and her third husband, Tea Cake, was above and beyond the most positive of the three relationships with men she had and summoned forth her best assets. The relationships she had with these three men permitted her to be subjected to her first true love, expand her knowledge of working and taking care of herself, and discover a new culture/society.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Preacher’s Daughters is a reality television show aired on Lifetime. The show follows religious families dealing with typical teenage rebellion and extreme parental expectations. All while following their strict spiritual values. With either one or both parents in the ministry, their daughters are pressured to set a good example for the church at all times. Preacher’s Daughters exemplifies patriarchal dominance by the shaming and pressure the fathers put on their daughters.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    4 O'Clock Birds Singing

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Furthermore, the second and fifth stanza compares the birds and their songs to water. The author may feel as if the sound if overwhelming the author as “[the author] could not count their force, their voices did expend...to multiply the pond.” The author describes the intensity of the noise and the multiplying number of birds making it describing them as a “force.” It’s as if the birds were a wave, starting small, then becoming larger and louder as more water is added to the entity. In the fifth stanza, “the flood had done...the band was gone.” The author uses these metaphors between birds and water to show how quickly the birds can disappear as “the sun [engrosses] the east.” and as “the day controls the world...the miracle...forgotten, as fulfilled”…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Viramontes, the unique challenges by Latina females is caused greatly by their ethnic background. Often women are oppressed by society, but when the issue is of color these challenges are harder to avoid. This does not only occur in this novel, but exists today in the real world. Many Latina females are often discriminated and harassed by societal influences, which makes them feel forced into specific roles. As seen in Under the Feet of Jesus, Estrella is a victim of these ongoing challenges, for being part of a low socioeconomic status, lack of education, and not being a legal U.S. citizen.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the passage from chapter 9 from the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, the author uses diction, figurative language, and selection of detail to express Janie’s change to a self-promoting attitude compared to Nanny’s materialistic and dependant way of living life.…

    • 513 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    a flower that is meant for feeding from, they do not only notice the colors the…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is it mean to be prepare for death when it comes? A poem called “When Death Comes” written by Mary Oliver was a twenty-eight lines poem that was about death and how she describes the woman who is the speaker of the poem getting prepare for her death, so when death comes for her, she will be ready to go without any regrets. Throughout eight poems in unit two readings, I chose this poem because I admire her strong, confident, and brave feelings. This poem had inspired me to live my life to the fullest and do things that will not leave myself any regrets when death comes for me later on. In Mary Oliver’s “When Death Comes”, the speaker uses persona, simile, and repetition to show how the woman in the poem was prepare for death even though…

    • 1164 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, chapter 10 is an important chapter bridging the part of Janie Crawford’s life after the death of her second husband and her marriage with Tea Cake. The chapter introduced Tea Cake when he meets Janie while she is working in her store. His playfulness is revealed in this chapter. The affect Tea Cake has on Janie is personified at the end of the chapter.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The famous Sermon on the Mount delivered by Jesus is considered to be one of the main focal points of the entire religions moral belief system. It delivers many applicable methods to approach salvation and the lifestyles choices/fruits that come along with embracing God’s grace and sacrifice. Jesus gave this sermon at an early point during His ministry. In the previous two chapters, Jesus was baptized, gathered His disciples and gained more of a following throughout Syria. Once Jesus noticed his following, He traveled up the mountain and began teaching His disciple’s. I think that specific part at the beginning of verse two in chapter five is extremely important. It shows that Jesus is targeting only His specific group of followers yet it ended with a a large amount of people that came to listen. This sermon shows great symbolism of how actual salvation works. It is made for the specific but is offered to many.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the poem, Body of a Woman, by Pablo Neruda there is a dual imagery of who the subject of the poem is. Neruda can be talking about either the obvious image of an actual woman that is most likely his lover, but the other image that is not as evident is that he could be talking about his love for Mother Earth.…

    • 754 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays