--- title: The Captivating World of Mary Oliver description: Mary Oliver, who had been treated for lymphoma, died at her home in Hobe Sound, Fla., on Jan. 17. She was 83 and a rarity even among poets. canonical: https://time.com/5511732/mary-oliver-remembrance/ author: Katy Steinmetz article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-24T10:49:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:51:44.519Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Captivating World of Mary Oliver og:description: ‘Oliver gave fresh spirit to old ideas in purposefully plain speech’ og:url: https://time.com/5511732/mary-oliver-remembrance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte45b541ed57e2371/698943db22fb85081ae27a48/mary-oliver-milestone-web.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1442 og:image:alt: Poet Mary Oliver Dead Milestones WEB og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Captivating World of Mary Oliver twitter:description: ‘Oliver gave fresh spirit to old ideas in purposefully plain speech’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte45b541ed57e2371/698943db22fb85081ae27a48/mary-oliver-milestone-web.jpg?branch=production ---  # The Captivating World of Mary Oliver by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Jan 24, 2019 10:49 AM UTC  In addition to her Pulitzer Prize, Oliver, shown here in 2013, received the National Book Award for Poetry in 1992 In addition to her Pulitzer Prize, Oliver, shown here in 2013, received the National Book Award for Poetry in 1992Angel Valentin—The New York Times/Redux by [Katy Steinmetz](https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/) ## Katy Steinmetz Jan 24, 2019 10:49 AM UTC If you know only one line of Mary Oliver’s poetry, it is likely a question she posed, one that sums up the infectious wonder that ran through her verse like veins through a leaf. “Tell me,” the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet wrote in “The Summer Day,” “what is it you plan to do/ with your one wild and precious life?” Oliver, who had been treated for lymphoma, died at her home in Hobe Sound, Fla., on Jan. 17\. She was 83 and a rarity even among poets. She was not merely prolific: the Ohio native published more than 20 volumes of verse, including _American Primitive_, the collection that won the Pulitzer in 1984\. Her work also sold well. Writers borrowed her lines as epigraphs and readers held them close–and taped them up and tweeted them out and even tattooed them–because Oliver gave fresh spirit to old ideas in purposefully plain speech. She found perspective in the march of seasons. She envied the secret lives of animals. She reminded her readers that life is a blessing, that mischief can be healing, that uncertainty isn’t a reason to disbelieve. She also left us with helpful instructions, some written as she grappled with growing older and wondering what comes next. “Keep some room in your heart,” Oliver wrote in 2009, “for the unimaginable.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5511732/mary-oliver-remembrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5511732/mary-oliver-remembrance/"},"headline":"The Captivating World of Mary Oliver","datePublished":"2019-01-24T10:49:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:51:44.519Z","description":"Poet of a captivating world","url":"https://time.com/5511732/mary-oliver-remembrance/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte45b541ed57e2371/698943db22fb85081ae27a48/mary-oliver-milestone-web.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katy Steinmetz","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/katy-steinmetz/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte45b541ed57e2371/698943db22fb85081ae27a48/mary-oliver-milestone-web.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Poet Mary Oliver Dead Milestones WEB","caption":"In addition to her Pulitzer Prize, Oliver, shown here in 2013, received the National Book Award for Poetry in 1992","creditText":"Angel Valentin—The New York Times/Redux","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5511732/mary-oliver-remembrance/","name":"The Captivating World of Mary Oliver"}}]}] ```