The Summer Day

The Summer Day

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

            The Summer Day by Mary Oliver reflects my understanding of life summed up in a nineteen-lined poem. The poem serves as a metaphor for how short life is. The beginning starts with the existential question: “Who made the world?” Oliver compares the beauty of the swan and the power of the black bear. Then Oliver begins to focus on the grasshopper which seems ordinary in comparison to the majestic swan and the aggressive bear. The poem emphasizes how unique each act is to the grasshopper like “thoroughly washing her face”. On the other hand, humans are caught in the routine of a simple act of washing one’s face and take it for granted. The grasshopper continues to appreciate life and finds joy in simple things like “chewing back and forth instead of up and down” as well. This grasshopper isn’t extraordinary but makes herself stand out with “complicated eyes”. Oliver is emphasizing the importance of individuality. My favorite line from The Summer Day is “the one who has flung herself from the grass”. This line jumps out to me because the image of a grasshopper jumping from the ground – making herself known to the world – is one in a million the narrator notices. I think everyone should strive to be exceptional. There is also a religious aspect to the poem with the images words of “blessed, prayer, falling down, kneeling down”. There is a greater power that created everything and humans do not know the half of it. Everything does die and Oliver’s message is to live each life to the fullest, spring from the grass, be the one grasshopper someone notices.

Oliver’s work is filled with hidden literary devices that casual readers might overlook. The primary device is her use of anaphora. Most of the lines in couplets begin the same: the one, how is, Now she, etc. Oliver breaks the couplets once she reaches her conclusion of “I don’t know”. The use of anaphora might show how the world is fixed and in a set routine but the narrator doesn’t have everything figured out yet. Another device is an anastrophe in the line: “this grasshopper – I mean”. By flipping the order of this phrase, Oliver puts emphasis on the significance of the specific insect the narrator is observing. The third literary device that sticks out to me is the long syndeton when Oliver is describing “this grasshopper”. All of the grasshopper’s unique actions are listed in a run-on sentence without conjunctions. This makes the reader pay attention to the numerous, special traits of the grasshopper. The literary devices all continue to portray Oliver’s message of questioning life and individuality further without using any words.