Ghost Mary Oliver Analysis

“Ghosts” Nature makes up the entire structure of our world and has a very powerful effect when implemented into poetry. Mary Oliver does an exquisite job of diving into the topic of settling the United States and participating in the destroying of animals and humans along with their habitats in her poem “Ghosts”. This poem strongly portrays the negative effects from domesticating North America.

The first line of the poem creates some tension by asking “Have you noticed?”. The question is completed in the next few lines with the image of animals that have fallen over several years. This introduces the topic of how we have taken over the land of many creatures and killed them for sport over hundreds of years. The overall tone in the first portion

Lewis is clearly Meriwether Lewis, who led an expedition with Clark in America. This stanza gives us a time period, which allows us to find a connection with the previous stanza. The sparrow's nest is made up of buffalo hair which gives us the idea that every bit of a dead buffalo is used, whether it is by Native Americans or nature. This also shows that nothing can disappear because even though the buffalo are dead, their hair is recycled into nature and used for nests. I interpreted the last part of the stanza as the baby sparrows are excited to see their new world, but don’t realize the reality of the “real” world. The real world was described with contradicting words such as “perils” and “flowered fields” to represent the fact that our world which is full of many good things as well as bad. These baby birds are about to discover this huge world, which is similar to Lewis, who is discovering the new world, except that these babies are discovering that their world is being overtaken by settlers. The mood of this stanza switches from the previous stanzas. In the stanzas before, the focus is in the present and is surrounded by the idea of wanting to get away from the domestication. The focus on this stanza is in the past and it is about diving into the new world regardless of the

Native Americans and animals have not only lost their homes, but even their lives to settlers. Bison are near threatened and many Native Americans are confined in a reservation where they can’t uphold their nomadic traditions. The theme involves a loss of nature as well as a loss of soul. There is no justification or respect in murdering and leaving the dead to rot without even a proper burial. This poem brings awareness to all of those that haven’t “noticed” the atrocities that occurred in order for us to inhabit the United States, as well as the atrocities that will occur if we keep developing land for our growing population. The title “Ghosts” has a great deal of significance to the poem. These “ghosts” are the ancestors of Native Americans who can only be resurrected through dance. I believe that their purpose in this poem is to emphasize the circle of life. The “ghosts” leave behind their mark on the land such as the tribal circle engraved into the earth. These “ghosts” are also a representation of the past culture. The remnants of the past cultures are still visible throughout this poem which adds to the idea that “ghosts” are still visible as well. This title completes and enhances the projected tone of remembrance and