Reflection on the Spiritual and Theological Significance of Mary Oliver’s Poem: ‘The Summer Day’.

By Rod Mitchell in All Sorts

this poem provides both a spiritual challenge and a theological inquiry into the purpose of human life

Reflection on the Spiritual and Theological Significance of Mary Oliver’s Poem: ‘The Summer Day’

Mary Oliver’s The Summer Day is a poem that invites deep contemplation on the sacredness of existence, the presence of the divine in the ordinary, and the human responsibility to live with intention and wonder. At its core, the poem is a meditation on attentiveness—how paying close attention to the natural world can become an act of prayer, a way of encountering the sacred. The poem’s famous closing question, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” serves as both a spiritual challenge and a theological inquiry into the purpose of human life within the grand tapestry of creation.
The poem begins with a simple observation: a grasshopper, “eating sugar out of my hand,” is described with such precision and reverence that it becomes more than an insect—it becomes a manifestation of divine artistry. Oliver’s attention to detail (“her enormous and complicated eyes,” “the jaws moving back and forth instead of up and down”) suggests that true seeing is a form of devotion. In Christian theology, this echoes the idea of sacramental vision—the belief that the physical world can reveal the presence of God. The grasshopper, in its intricate design, becomes a testament to the Creator’s handiwork, much like St. Francis of Assisi’s reverence for all creatures as reflections of divine love.
Oliver’s question, “Who made the world?” is both childlike and profound, echoing the Psalmist’s awe at creation: “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers...” (Psalm 8:3). Yet Oliver does not seek an answer in doctrine but in experience—the act of kneeling in the grass, of being still and present. This aligns with contemplative spirituality, which emphasizes encountering the divine through mindfulness and sensory engagement rather than abstract dogma. The poem suggests that theology is not just about defining God but about noticing God in the everyday.
The poem’s spiritual urgency culminates in its final lines, where Oliver shifts from observation to existential questioning. The “one wild and precious life” we are given is not just a biological fact but a theological charge: How will we respond to the gift of existence? In Christian terms, this evokes the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), where humans are entrusted with resources and called to
use them meaningfully. Oliver’s question, however, is broader—it encompasses all of life’s possibilities, urging us to live with both gratitude and purpose.
Ultimately, The Summer Day is a call to sacred attention—to see the world as holy and to recognize our role within it. It challenges the reader to move beyond passive existence into active wonder, to treat each moment as an opportunity for reverence. Theologically, it suggests that the divine is not distant but immanent, found in the grass, the grasshopper, and the act of paying attention. In a world often distracted by haste and consumption, Oliver’s poem is an invitation to slow down, to kneel in the grass, and to consider what it means to truly live.

The Summer Day Poem:
Who made the world?
Who made the swan and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
The one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Rod Mitchell