Poetic Imagination in Communion with Nature: A Case Study of Mary Oliver’s Selected Poems

Abstract

Considering the significance of ecopoetry and how it widens the ecological horizons of the readers, tracing the ecopoet’s mental transition from the moment of direct sensual experiences in Nature to the act of composition enables the readers to fathom out what lies behind the poetic imagination, bringing about the ecological sense of union with the natural. As for the purpose of this study, the researchers intend to examine the ecocentric-ecopoetic elements of the selected ecopoems out of Mary Oliver’s New & Selected Poems, Vol. 1 with the aim of bringing to light the fact that Oliver’s main attempt is inviting her readers to reach mental growth through her bringing forth the consciousness that derives from the power of imagination and acute attention given to the world of the non-human, enabling the speaker-poet and her readers to do away with the barriers of self-centeredness and take part in a collective reunion with Nature. Accordingly, the general framework that has been used to conduct the following research is Ecocriticism and its celebration of ecological wholeness between human and non-human agents.