The English, Foreign Languages and English as a Second Language Department is pleased to present the Campus Poetry Project during National Poetry Month that was established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 and is celebrated every April.
“Spring” by Mary Oliver
Read “Spring” by Mary Oliver here.
From the Academy of American Poets: Mary Oliver published more than 15 collections of poetry, including “Blue Horses” (Penguin Press, 2014); “New and Selected Poems, Volume One” (Beacon Press, 1992), a winner of the National Book Award, and “American Primitive” (Little, Brown, 1983), for which she won the Pulitzer Prize.
Oliver, who cited Walt Whitman as an influence, is best known for her awe-filled, often hopeful, reflections on and observations of nature. “Mary Oliver’s poetry is an excellent antidote for the excesses of civilization,” wrote one reviewer for the Harvard Review, “for too much flurry and inattention, and the baroque conventions of our social and professional lives. She is a poet of wisdom and generosity whose vision allows us to look intimately at a world not of our making.”
Oliver’s honors include an American Academy of Arts & Letters Award, a Lannan Literary Award, the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Prize and Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.” The poet died in 2019 at the age of 83. (Photo credit: The New Yorker)
Campus Poetry Project
Throughout April, be on the lookout for poetry postings in the Campus Chronicle, on digital monitors and on lawn signs across our main campus. Take a selfie with your favorite lawn sign and join the Campus Poetry Project D2L page to learn about more activities to promote and appreciate poetry.
Happy National Poetry Month!
