The document below details some of what students need to know to prosper in Parnassus. Click on the images to return to class or home pages.

This page is maintained by Tim Jollymore at Skyline High School, Oakland, California. Please email your kind comments and questions to The Oracle at Delphi . . Copyright 2001, Tim Jollymore. Last up dated 10/10/02

Owls

The passage from "Owls" shows the harshness, softness, and beauty of nature and and is brought together by the style of the author Mary Oliver, to show how complicated it is. Every line brings another element to the vastness of what nature entails. Reacting this passage is like unfolding new mysteries and Oliver is able to do this by contrasting aspects of nature, telling surprising facts in ways that mystify the reader, and using strong adjectives that heighten the image of what is being described.

By contrasting different details of nature and its inhabitants, Oliver is able to show the reader how nature is unpredictable. This also adds an element of complexity. Oliver uses the owl and the roses to make a contrast. She writes about the owls, "They are swift and merciless upon the backs of rabbits, mice, voles, snakes, even skunks, even cats." She portrays the owl as a heartless murderer, making nature seem cold and deathly. Then she describes the roses, "All summer they are red and pink and white tents of softness and nectar, which wafts and hangs every where." In showing the roses as beautiful and sweet, without any harshness, and the owl as an unrelenting killer, Oliver shows nature's complexity by giving its many forms and now its characteristics are innumberable.

When telling of her experiences with nature, Oliver throws in many shocking details. These small additions are eye-catching and extreme and the reader is naturally intrigued. She writes about the owl, ". . . taking the head only, for the owl has an insatiable craving for the taste of brains." This line is so extreme and unhuman that Oliver is able to surprise the reader and confuse him. This is a clever tactic to describe a complexity in that it is a new and disturbing fact that is difficult to tak in. Later, Oliver writes, "I know I am standing at the edge of the mystery, in which terror is naturally and abundantly part of life. Hearing that terror is a part of life is a shocking statement that awes the reader. Being in awe is a definite sign that what is being read is complex.

Oliver gives very strong words to describe what she is thinking. Every word is in its extreme form. This makes nature seem very real yet almost like words can barely describe its complicated ways. Oliver writes, "I'm struck, I'm taken, I'm conquered . . . as though it was a river, full of dreaming and idleness.. ." The reader sees how Oliver is struck by nature. She has no way to react but to be in shock. She later writes, "Now I am cringing at the very sound of the owl's dark wings." The word cringing describes how Oliver can barely relate to nature, she has to slightly close her eyes. It is too powerful and complex to look at with full view. The owl brings out these images and powerful words that gvie nature such a vast network of emotions and pictures.

Through all of the methods of Oliver, nature is shown in its pure and complex form. Her style contrasts, surprises, and intensifies nature, leaving it a mystery still.

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