The Summer Day

The poem concludes with the iconic question, 'Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?' This line has become Mary Oliver's most widely quoted phrase. It challenges the reader to consider how they intend to spend their time on Earth after bearing witness to the world's beauty.

The poem focuses heavily on a grasshopper, which the speaker observes closely as it eats sugar out of her hand. Oliver describes the grasshopper's specific physical movements, such as cleaning its face and moving its jaws. This intense observation of a small creature is what prompts the poem's final existential question.

'The Summer Day' was published in Mary Oliver's 1990 collection titled 'House of Light.' This book further established her reputation as one of America's premier nature poets. 'House of Light' won critical acclaim for its deep, mindful observations of the natural environment.

In the poem, the speaker asks, 'I don't know exactly what a prayer is,' and proceeds to describe kneeling down in the grass and paying profound attention to a grasshopper. This suggests that, for Oliver, prayer is achieved through deep, mindful observation of the present moment and the natural world. It reframes prayer not as a recitation, but as an act of extreme presence.