“Crossing The Swamp” by Mary Oliver is a poem about, well, crossing a swamp. But it’s also about so much more.
The poem begins with the speaker describing the scene: the murky water, the reeds and moss, the “muck and slime.” But despite all of that, the speaker sees beauty in the swamp.
And as the speaker begins to cross the swamp, they see even more beauty. They see dragonflies and frogs and beetles. They see fish swimming in the water. And they see the sun shining through the trees.
But Crossing The Swamp isn’t just about seeing beauty in nature. It’s also about finding strength within oneself. As the speaker crosses the swamp, they have to push through the muck and the slime. They have to keep going even when they’re tired.
And in the end, they make it to the other side. They’ve crossed the swamp.
This poem is about so much more than just crossing a swamp. It’s about finding beauty in nature, and finding strength within oneself. Mary Oliver has written a beautiful and inspiring poem.”
As an anonymous author once said, “There are times in everyone’s life when something constructive is born out of adversity… when things seem so bad that you’ve got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it.” This quote suggests that we must face struggles head-on to grow as people. The poem Crossing the Swamp by Mary Oliver reinforces this message.
In her poem, Crossing the Swamp, Mary Oliver is able to take a negative situation and turn it into something beautiful.
The poem Crossing the Swamp written by Mary Oliver is about, well, crossing a swamp. The speaker in the poem is Crossing a Swamp themselves. In the first stanza, the speaker states how difficult it is to get through the swamp. Every time they take a step, they feel as if they are going to sink. It seems as if there is no hope for them to get across this swamp. They feel as if they have been stuck in this same spot for days. However, in the second stanza, the speaker’s tone changes.
They become more determined to get across the swamp. The speaker starts to see the beauty in the swamp. They see how the light shines through the trees and how the animals are able to adapt to their surroundings. The speaker also starts to think about how they have been able to get this far. They realize that they have come too far to turn back now. In the last stanza, the speaker finally makes it across the swamp. They are now able to look back and see how far they have come. The speaker is also able to see how beautiful the swamp really is.
Crossing the Swamp is a poem about determination and resilience. It is about never giving up, even when things seem impossible. This poem can be applied to many different situations in life. When faced with a difficult situation, always remember that you have the strength to get through it. Just keep moving forward, one step at a time.
Overall, Oliver’s poem depicts a battle of life that one must overcome, hence the name. In Mary Oliver’s poem, poetic devices are utilized to express both a literal meaning and a relationship between the speaker and the swamp. The use of imagery, structure, diction, and metaphors in the poem conveys the conflict between the swamp and the speaker.
The poem Crossing the Swamp by Mary Oliver is about the speaker’s journey through life and how they must overcome obstacles. The speaker uses metaphors to compare their life to a swamp. The first metaphor is in the first line, “Every single day / I walk into the swamp.” This metaphor shows how the speaker is walking into their life, not knowing what will happen.
The second metaphor is in the third line, “I am up to my waist in it.” This metaphor compares the speaker’s life to a swamp that they are stuck in. The fourth and final metaphor is in the last line, “I am almost across.” This metaphor shows how the speaker is almost done with their journey through life.
The use of imagery in Crossing the Swamp is used to create a visual of the speaker’s journey. The first image is in the fourth line, “The muck is cold and black.” This image creates a visual of the swamp that the speaker is walking through. The second image is in the fifth line, “I am up to my waist in it.” This image shows how deep the speaker is in their journey. The third and final image is in the last line, “I am almost across.” This image shows how close the speaker is to finishing their journey.
The structure of Crossing the Swamp is six stanzas with four lines in each stanza. The first stanza sets up the poem with the speaker talking about their life. The second stanza is about the speaker’s journey through life. The third stanza is about how the speaker is almost done with their journey. The fourth stanza is about how the speaker is tired from their journey. The fifth stanza is about how the speaker wants to give up. The last stanza is about how the speaker is going to keep going until they finish their journey.
Mary Oliver establishes a connection between the speaker and the swamp by utilizing imagery which creates a sense of loss that transitions into hope. For example, in lines 5-8 she states “branching vines, the dark burred faintly belching bogs.” By using words like “dark,” “burred,” and “belching” at the beginning of poem, readers are immediately met with senses of desolation.
The words “dark,” “burred,” and “belching” all create an image of something dark, ugly, and foreboding. This mood is furthered by the phrase in line 9, “the rank smell of water logged decay.” The poem continues in this vein for several more lines, with Oliver making use of phrases such as “slime covered stones” and “black ooze seeping up.” All of these images work together to create a sense that the swamp is a place that is dangerous and not to be trifled with.
However, as the poem progresses, the tone changes somewhat. In lines 17-20, the speaker says “I have wasted my life. I have walked through the marshes without ever really seeing them.” This change in tone suggests that the speaker has had a moment of realization, and is now seeing the swamp for what it really is.
The images she uses also change to reflect this new perspective. In lines 21-24, she talks about how the swamp is “full of light” and how there are “jewels hidden in the mud.” These are much more positive images than the ones she used earlier in the poem, and they suggest that the speaker has come to appreciate the swamp for its own sake, rather than seeing it as a place to be avoided.