From Affective Turn to Ecological Turn in Mary Oliver’s Selected Poems

When it comes to discussions about emotions, human beings become the center of attention. Yet, there are times when we find ourselves in some sort of in-betweenness, where we cannot resolve whether we exert our sentiments on the non-human or it is the non-humans that trigger our sensations and give voice to them. The liminality between ecocriticism and affect theory has encouraged the researchers to investigate this issue through a case study of the ecopoems taken from Oliver’s New and Selected Poems, vol. ۲ to fulfill the main objective of this short study, shedding light on the fact that the speaker-poet’s body and mind are the intersection of sentimental encounters with the rhythms of Nature. Thus, the main conclusion that can be drawn from this research is that, the combination of the affective intra-being with Nature with the ecological inter-being with it strengthens the ecocentric tie between man and Nature, letting the ecopoems speak for themselves, and casts light on the significant power of affect to stimulate responses and reactions in human beings, leading to the development of the Oliverian green language that enhances the reader’s ecocentric awareness in the end.

Keywords:

Mary Oliver , Affect Theory , Ecocriticism , Liminality , Emotion