OMG. How incredible.

I am a lover of nature writing and poetry, so I expected to love this given what I've heard of Mary Oliver before. I was still pretty blown away by this collection. It's amazing how she can consider the beautiful and poetic nature of an animal or plant and then perfectly describe every little piece of it in such a heartwarming yet brutal way. She uses her words like weapons.

I was very impressed by this book.

And I am thinking: maybe just looking and listening is the real work. Maybe, the world, without us, is the real poem. from Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver

“Poems either do not succeed, or they feel as much delivered as created,” Mary Oliver writes in the Forward of Long Life, which is included in Little Alleluias. I understood that truth right away from when I wrote poetry.

Mary Oliver called her work “little alleluias,” Natalie Diaz notes, “not meant to define but to praise, to rejoice in the maker and what has been made, to dare to be heard as a whisper or a shout in this immense world.”

The natural world is her inspiration. “I am a woman sixty years old, and glory is my work” every day considering the world, noticing its beauty and mystery, using words to sing the world.

“A lifetime isn’t long enough for the beauty of this world/and the responsibilities of your life,” Oliver writes in Flare.

The world asks, “Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?” And Oliver replies, “This book is my comment.”

A lovely collection.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

I recommend this collection most highly. I absolutely adore Mary Oliver’s deeply thoughtful, and incredibly moving poetry.

In this collection, readers can spend time engaging with both Oliver’s poetry and prose. They will be the better for it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Note: Oliver’s poetry is very accessible. No deep scholarship required.

We get an amazing blend of nature focused poetry from earlier in Mary Oliver's life, and a brief prose section where she talks about her daily life with her wife (HOW DID I NOT KNOW SHE WAS A LESBIAN?!!) and the house they built out in the wild. I love that we're getting this part of her back catalogue republished in wake of her recent passing. Worth your time.

I’ve loved Mary Oliver’s work for decades now. However, I always sort of dread posthumous collections. This one is well curated and unified in theme and content. However, it didn’t hit me as deeply as some others. It is very much in the tradition of big names: Whitman, Wordsworth, Emerson. Maybe personally, I’m just not there right now. I feel like it could be compared and contrasted to the old poets as an example of ‘done in the style of,’ in the classroom. However, some teens won’t be able to do the transcendental thinking required to make deeper meaning.

This poetry collection is a beautiful tapestry of emotion, insight, and vivid imagery. Each poem resonates with honesty and a unique voice that invites deep reflection. The themes explore the human experience with both grace and power, making every page feel meaningful. A truly inspiring and moving collection that lingers long after reading.

This book was given to me by NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinions.

I typically don’t rate poetry; regardless, Mary Oliver is the queen. Her appreciation and observation of the world is so refreshing. This book was an interesting mix of poetry and prose— some of the prose I didn’t care much about— like the essays on Hawthorne, but I enjoyed the one on Emerson.

A deeply emotional collection of poems. You truly feel the beauty and emotion in her words. Incredible observations of the natural world, intermingled with her feelings. This collection truly makes you stop, and take a moment to observe and sit with the life that is happening all around us every day.

Reading the works of Mary Oliver is a kind of meditation. Her profound observations give you no choice but to take a breath, clear your mind, and be grateful to be human.

Thank you so much to the Netgalley, publisher and the author for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!

This was such a unique piece of literature. I am already obsessed with Mary Oliver’s writing style so i had high expectations to begin with but this exceeded them.
I thought that the writing was really engaging and atmospheric.
If you love to think for hours after finishing a good piece of work of art i think you would love this!
I’m so glad that i read it. I’ll think about this book for a long time.
5/5

See my full review at http://michelleardillo.com/2025/05/27/book-review-little-alleluias-by-mary-oliver/

This is a very nice collection. Mary Oliver’s poetry is so beautiful, tender and reverent. Multiple lines made me sigh because they are so lovely. I enjoyed reading her prose, too. I think the only people who would not enjoy this are people who don’t like poetry and people who already own the same collections (The Leaf and the Cloud, Long Life, and What Do We Know). Anyone who enjoys poetry about nature, the deeper questions of life, and taking joy in the simple pleasures will love this collection.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions. I will post this review on Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram within one week of publication.

There is nothing surprising to me about my very positive reaction thesis collection by Mary Oliver. She always touches pieces of my heart and soul and I can easily see myself using some of these pieces in my teaching.