Interconnection

In order to overcome despair and loneliness, the speaker advises any readers suffering from these experiences to pay attention to the beauty of nature and to remember that one is not separate from nature. This idea of separation between humans and nature can be traced in part to dualism in Western philosophy (such as Cartesian mind-body duality). Born in Ohio in the 1930’s, Mary Oliver likely grew up under a dominant culture that taught the separation between humans and nature. But she found the woods to be a place of solace, and the beauty she encountered there saved her from her dysfunctional childhood. This sentiment is found in many of her poems, including "Wild Geese." The connection humans have to the natural world is described in this poem as humans being part of the “family of things” (18). From this perspective, every being is interconnected. Rather than...