"The Black Walnut," Mary Oliver's poem was initially published in 2017 as a part of the final collection of poetry entitled Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver. The poem, which many have considered to be semi-autobiographical, is widely regarded as one of Oliver's finest - and most important - works. In the poem, a mother and her daughter are presented with a dilemma: should they keep their walnut tree or should they sell it to pay off their mortgage? Although the decision initially seems easy to make, the two think about the history of the tree and the associated history of their ancestors. Despite their need for money and the occasional nuisances the tree provides, it seems that the two decide not to sell the tree - though a definite answer to whether they sell the tree or not is not provided by Oliver.
Mary Oliver is one of the most widely read and well-respected American poets of the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1984, Oliver was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, perhaps the most coveted and prestigious prize an author could win. Then, in 1992, Oliver won another important award: the National Book Award.
