The Summer Day Mary Oliver Summary

In the poem, “The Summer Day”, by Mary Oliver, there are many examples poetic devices that are extremely effective and help to reinforce the thematic theme of the poem. A few that I found to be particularly effective are the examples of metaphors, repetition and irony.

The most interesting poetic device found in the poem was the use of extended metaphor. It is evident in lines three to ten:

Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean – the one who 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.

This extended metaphor ultimately proves how a simple, short life can also be a beautiful life.
The grasshopper is being compared to a human’s life. Though it lives such a simple life, eating sugar out of the poets hand, moving her jaw back and forth, she still lives a beautiful enough life to be able to snap her wings open and float away peacefully. This is an example of an extended metaphor because this metaphor is developed over a number of lines as opposed to only one. The poem also seems to be written from a Buddhist point of view, which is reflected through these lines. The Buddhists believe that life should be simple and stress-free, which is exactly how these lines perceive how the grasshopper lives life. These lines are also phrased in a way that is very carefree and fun. This is a similar representation to a typical summer day. The theme of the poem is also that life is precious, and like the grasshopper, we should enjoy each day, enjoy the sun in the summer, enjoy strolling through the fields, and live life to its fullest.
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The second poetic device that I found effective was the use of repetition.
The use of repetition is more evident in the first half of the poem as opposed to the second half. There are many phrases that are repeated such as “Who made the…” in the first three lines of the poem, or “the one who…” in the fifth and sixth line. This repetition creates rhyme and adds emphasis to the phrases that are being repeated. For example, the first three lines all start with: “Who made the…”. This simple phrase adds emphasis on the second part of the sentace which is what changes each time. This slight difference creates a dramatic effect while adding emphasis for a more effective question to the reader. The emphasis adds drama to the section of the phrase that is not being repeated which helps the reader understand what he/she is reading. This emphasis and repition also helps the reader imagine the imagery that is placed in the poem. There are a few examples of this including lines 5-6, 7-8, and 9-10: the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hands 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.

Each couplet starts off with the same phrase, creating a dramatic effect helping the reader imagine the imagery. The repetitive beginings take away from the imagery helping the reader develop the theme which is that life is a short but beautiful thing.
This helps with drilling the theme of the poem into the reader’s head because since the same phrase is repeated the reader can pay more attention to the phrase that is constantly changing. The repetition used at the beginning of the poem is very light, fluffy and fun, helping to reinforce the theme.

The final poetic device that is effective in reinforcing the thematic statement is the example of irony. The best example of irony in this poem is found on line 11 that goes as follows: “I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.” The poet tells the reader that she does not know what a prayer is, which is assumed to be a religious prayer. The poet then continues on to say in lines 12-14:

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,

If you look at these few lines you realize the poets’ contradicted herself. These lines are the steps to a prayer which she just previously said she did not know. As you can see, there is irony between the poet saying she does not know how to pray, all while she still managed to list the steps of a prayer. This can be related back to the first metaphor and even back to the theme of the poem. There are many things in life that man can and will do naturally without a second thought. These are natural instincts every man is born with. So if man stopped worrying so much about the little things in life, they would be more carefree. Which is why the theme, life’s too short to sit around, over analyzing every single situation, is an appropriate theme for this poem.