Felicity: Poems

In this quiet celebration of nature, love, and life, Mary Oliver once again conveys beauty and wisdom through her poems. Felicity is the perfect gift of the season that will fill the reader with the warmth of joy. Recommended By Richard C., Powells.com

Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems

“If I have any secret stash of poems, anywhere, it might be about love, not anger,” Mary Oliver once said in an interview. Finally, in her stunning new collection, Felicity, we can immerse ourselves in Oliver’s love poems. Here, great happiness abounds. Our most delicate chronicler of physical landscape, Oliver has described her work as loving the world. With Felicity she examines what it means to love another person. She opens our eyes again to the territory within our own hearts; to the wild and to the quiet. In these poems, she describes—with joy—the strangeness and wonder of human connection. As in Blue Horses, Dog Songs, and A Thousand Mornings, with Felicity Oliver honors love, life, and beauty.

Mary Oliver’s bestselling collection of essays, Upstream, was published by Penguin Press in Fall 2016.

“One of the astonishing aspects of Oliver’s work is the consistency of tone over this long period [of her career]. What changes is an increased focus on nature and an increased precision with language that has made her one of our very best poets . . . There is no complaint in Ms. Oliver’s poetry, no whining, but neither is there the sense that life is in any way easy . . . These poems sustain us rather than divert us. Although few poets have fewer human beings in their poems than Mary Oliver, it is ironic that few poets also go so far to help us forward.” Stephen Dobyns, New York Times Book Review

“A breezy, inviting collection of love poems that celebrates the divine as much as it does the natural world or human relationships…An eloquent celebration of simple joy from one of America’s most beloved poets.” The Washington Post

“Oliver’s longtime fans and those who seek spiritual renewal will find themselves a worthy guide in this sagacious, pantheistic read.” Publisher’s Weekly

Born in a small town in Ohio, Mary Oliver published her first book of poetry in 1963 at the age of 28. Over the course of her long career, she has received numerous awards. Her fourth book, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1984. She has led workshops and held residencies at various colleges and universities, including Bennington College, where she held the Catharine Osgood Foster Chair for Distinguished Teaching. Oliver currently lives in Florida.