15 pages • 30 minutes read
Mary OliverMessenger
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Clam
“The clam deep in the speckled sand” (Line 5) is the only concrete image that appears more than once in this poem as it reappears in Line 18 “sleepy [and] dug-up.” The clam emerges in the first stanza of the poem, “deep” (Line 5) in the sand, presumably safe, where a clam should be. Upon its reemergence, the reader can assume that the clam is going to be consumed by the speaker. The clam serves as a symbol for the speaker’s mind as she contemplates her “work” of “loving the world” (Line 1). Just before the speaker reveals her inner dialogue of worry about her old clothes and her age, she mentions the clam deep in the sand. In the last stanza just before the speaker reaches her conclusion of “how it is that we live forever” the clam appears one more time as “sleepy” and “dug-up” (Lines 18, 20). The clam rises to the surface of the sand: The speaker literally digs it up just as she has her ecstatic breakthrough about the infinite nature of all things. The placement of the clam mirrors the speaker’s thoughts as she moves from the beginning of the poem to her ultimate awareness at the end.
Wildlife
Like the clam, the wildlife (animals, bugs, birds) used throughout the poem serve as symbolic reflections of the speaker’s state of mind. In each stanza, except the second stanza, the speaker presents animals to the reader to function as mirrors for her mental state and as postmarks for the movement of the poem itself. In the first stanza “the hummingbird” (Line 2) calls forth images of movement, flight and vibration. The speaker vibrates with love for the world and the reader can feel the pulse of nature.
In the third stanza, the speaker discusses “the sheep in the pasture” (Line 13). In the last stanza the reader “give[s] shouts of joy / to the moth and the wren” (Lines 17-18); both are creatures of flight and give a stark contrast to the “sleepy dug-up clam” (Line 18) in the very same way the paradox of life and its decline walk hand-in-hand throughout this poem. Both the moth and the wren are winged and of the sky—much like the light, airy feeling of life and the speaker’s work of “loving the world” (Line 1)—while “the clam deep in the […] sand” (Line 5) exists in stark contrast as earthbound, heavy, and buried within the ground. Although they have major differences, the clam, the moth, and the wren are all wildlife in the same line of the poem. This directly correlates with the speaker’s emerging understanding of her purpose as she moves between the polarities of life and death.
Flowers
Like the animal and birdlife, the flowers throughout the poem serve also reflect the speaker’s state of mind and are a constant reminder to both the speaker and the reader to be an “equal [seeker] of sweetness” (Line 3). In the first stanza the sunflowers are a direct reflection of the sunny disposition the first line of the poem presents regarding “loving the world” (Line 1). In the third stanza the speaker turns the reader’s attention toward “the delphinium” (Line 12). The speaker’s listing of this delicate flower serves to underscore her “astonish[ment]” (Line 11). This beauty, along with the picturesque vision of “the pasture” (Line 13) are meant to immerse the speaker into “what matters” (Line 8). The speaker begins to remember to look up from her “torn” (Line 6) clothes and to see the purity and timeless qualities of the surrounding natural beauty.
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By Mary Oliver
