Mary Oliver Poem 2 - Hummingbirds

            Mary Oliver Poem 2 – Hummingbirds

In Owls and Other Fantasies, page 28, Mary Oliver writes an encounter between the narrator and hummingbirds.  The human finding them on their branch was accidental.  Not “knowing they were there”, and climbing the tree for “something to do”, the narrator finds the small, colorful, and precious hummingbird mother and her children, and is eyed warily by the birds before they dart away.

The next part of the poem is rather abstract, but has a rather beautiful message once I read it over a few times.  The person is alone now, and wanders the world from China to Prague, before dying and being born again when spring came back, finding and loving “you” again.  I identified China and Prague to well symbolize distant and vivid sites to see of the world, of civilization, which represents the narrator’s long search for something meaningful and beautiful.  However, they do not find anything that resonates with them, and so they “die”, likely in an emotional and spiritual sense.  Once springtime comes again, and the hummingbirds return to the blooming landscape, the narrator finds them again, likely having run outside to climb some trees in search for these birds.  The scene with images of China, Prague, death, and life flashing within mere moments indicates a sense of timelessness that Oliver creates to demonstrate, without directly saying it, that the narrator became aimless and yearning for something better in the world.  I appreciate these writing choices, because not only can I notice and appreciate the artistic choices, but I am influenced by the writing as well, where I feel just as aimless as the narrator with their aimless wandering, and their sudden jolt of excitement and love at the turn of spring.

The story then slows down, focusing on the remainder of that day, with the darkness coming and the moon rising.  However, there is no sense of rush or meaninglessness anymore, as the narrator is in no hurry, having likely visited “all the shimmering, heart-stabbing questions without answers” in the tree.  Again, Mary Oliver does not need to use direct words, because the abstract and emotional descriptions given by the narrator explain how they found peace at last.  The aimlessness of China and Prague were because the narrator could not find the same beauty and love in manmade locations and structures, as they did in the sudden visit to the hummingbird. 

The hummingbird can symbolize different things between interpretations.  One way I think of the poem is that the narrator experienced a spiritual moment in nature, feeling connected to something greater and more beautiful than anything else in the narrow, civilized life of a human.  Another way I look at the poem is that sometimes, one does not have one single path in life to follow, and that what we truly want in this world cannot be marked on a map, but found along the journey of life, such as the chance encounter between the narrator and the hummingbird.  Being “three drops of silvery water” that quickly flutter away, the hummingbird also may symbolize, simplicity in smaller things, that short moment can be more meaningful than weeks or months doing something else.  Don’t take the small moments in life for granted.