“Why I Wake Early” - Mary Oliver

“Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.”

- Mary Oliver

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On mindset

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@kasia.shopov thank you for this submission! At dawn, Little Man wanted to dance to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” on repeat ** I wasn’t exactly feeling the glory of sunrise…

… until I re-read Oliver’s words. What magic is poetry! Shaping AND capturing reality *

I first thought Oliver represented sunrise as intrinsically enjoyable. Closer consideration of the poem’s symmetry, however, reveals why sunrise is transformative for the soul:

** DATA (image 2 for easy visual!)

* This poem features 2 main stanzas, each of which contains 2 lines of direct address (“hello, sun”/“hello, you” à “best preacher”/“dear star”) and 4 lines of “list” (4 “and”s à 4 “to”s). 

* Lines 7 and 26 (last lines of stanzas 1 and 3) each contain 2 adjectives describing humans: “miserable…crotchety” and “happiness…kindness.”

** INTERPRETATION

One MUST play around with this many pairs of two *

First, symmetry delineates emotional trajectory. “Happiness...kindness” parallels “miserable…crotchety.” Stacked, we see they are in progression: miserable à happiness; crotchety à kindness.

Second, symmetry explains this transformation. Stanza 1 addresses Transformation 1 (miserable à happy). It lists what the sun reveals: fields, tulips, morning glories. That such miracles are quotidian norms inculcates humility and gratitude, leading to happiness.

Stanza 2 addresses Transformation 2 (“crotchety” à “kind”). It lists a sequence of the sun’s wondrous effects: “keep us from ever-darkness,” “ease us with warm touching,” “hold us in the great hands of light.”

 Here, the Sun both has agency (a “preacher” spreading salvation) AND “just happens” to be in our universe. That the sun responds to an accident of circumstance by choosing to give life is the ultimate model of kindness. Sunrise models how to approach the day.

Oliver (like the rest of us) might wake up “miserable” and “crotchety.” But she wakes up early so her soul “rises” with the sun.

Good thing (!) Little Man will give me another shot at it tomorrow… *