
American Primitive
Reader Score
87%
87% of readers
recommend this book
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
Book Details
- Publisher: Back Bay Books
- Publish Date: Apr 30th, 1983
- Pages: 88
- Language: English
- Dimensions: 8.00in - 5.40in - 0.30in - 0.25lb
- EAN: 9780316650045
- Categories: • American - General• Subjects & Themes - Animals & Nature• Women Authors
What people are saying

Husband, pastor spouse, father of three daughters, Christian poet, poet, DG SM, photographer, author, former town manager, attorney, accountant, April Fool
A #muskrat paw - 1 https://t.co/GPv1vns2JQ starting to reread Mary Oliver’s, American Primitive, about a muskrat paw from one of my 6th grade classmates, Mound, MN, October 1971 A muskrat paw https://t.co/n704TcTBpO #poetry #writing #MaryOliver #inspiration #nature #God #family

Professor, poet, author of speculative fiction, hypnotist, sybaritic cryptid, noiseless patient spider, goat-footed balloonman. NGH. HWA. (he/him)
Tonight I've decided to teach Mary Oliver's American Primitive in reference to psycholinguistics & embodied cognition. Your humanpeople laws no longer bind me. https://t.co/mRCEyzSfi1