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American Primitive

by Mary Oliver Publisher: LITTLE BROWN & CO

Pulitzer Prize Winner Critically Recognized

Nature and the inner wilderness in poetry

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Awards & Recognition

  • Award recognition

    Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner

    The source states that *American Primitive* won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

  • Critical praise

    Praised by Stanley Kunitz for its lyric voice and perceptions

    Kunitz praises the book's lyric voice, perceptions, and spiritual quality.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Nature and the inner wilderness in poetry

This collection brings together fifty poems shaped around the natural world, love, and the idea of wilderness both beyond the body and within it. Its scope links close attention to nature with questions of human feeling, giving the book a clear thematic thread across its poems. Published in 1983, American Primitive is a volume of American poetry by Mary Oliver.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in poetry centered on nature and the outdoors.
  • Readers seeking poems that connect love, human feeling, and the natural world.
  • Readers exploring American poetry collections.

Themes

NatureLove and human feelingWildernessAmerican poetry

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Mary Oliver's most acclaimed volume of poetry, American Primitive contains fifty visionary poems about nature, the humanity in love, and the wilderness of America, both within our bodies and outside.
"American Primitive enchants me with the purity of its lyric voice, the loving freshness of its perceptions, and the singular glow of a spiritual life brightening the pages." -- Stanley Kunitz
"These poems are natural growths out of a loam of perception and feeling, and instinctive skill with language makes them seem effortless. Reading them is a sensual delight." -- May Swenson
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Customer reviews

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AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.