Poetry for Students

154 Poetry for Students

University (1984–1986), and was a staff writer for

theNew Yorkerfrom 1988 to 1994.

In 1976, Ackerman published The Planets: A

Cosmic Pastoral, her first solo volume of poetry.

It was followed by Wife of Lightin 1978, Lady

Faustus(1983), and Jaguar of Sweet Laughter:

New and Selected Poems(1991).

In the early 1990s, Ackerman published two

nonfiction works about natural history, A Natural

History of the Senses(1990) and The Moon by

Whale Light, and Other Adventures among Bats,

Penguins, Crocodilians, and Whales(1991). These

books established Ackerman’s national reputation

as a nature and science writer. The Moon by Whale

Light, a collection of four essays previously writ-

ten for the New Yorker, was selected by the New

York Times Book Reviewas a “New and Notewor-

thy Book of the Year.”

During the mid-1990s, Ackerman wrote three

more nonfiction books: A Natural History of Love

(1994), which explored romantic love from almost

every possible angle; The Rarest of the Rare: Van-

ishing Animals, Timeless Worlds(1995); and A Slen-

der Thread: Crisis, Healing, and Nature(1997),

which was Ackerman’s account of working the night

shift of a suicide prevention hotline. In 1998, Ack-

erman produced her first volume of poetry in seven

years,I Praise My Destroyer.Origami Bridges:

Poems of Psychoanalysis and Firewas published

in 2002.

Ackerman’s other nonfiction works include

Deep Play(1999), which examines how humans tran-

scend the mundane daily world through “play” ac-

tivities, including art and religion, and A Natural

History of My Garden(2001), in which Ackerman

observes the passage of the four seasons in her own

garden. Along with her works of poetry and nonfic-

tion, Ackerman has also written books for children,

several plays, and several television documentaries.

The Senses of Animals: Poems(2002, reissued as An-

imal Sense, 2003) is a highly praised book of poetry

for children that includes illustrations by Peter Sis.

Ackerman has won numerous awards and

prizes during her career, including the Wordsmith

Award in 1992; the Golden Nose Award from the

Olfactory Research Fund in 1994; and the John

Burroughs Nature Award in 1998. She was named

a “Literary Lion” by the New York Public Library

in 1994.

Poem Summary

Couplet 1

The title of the poem, “On Location in the

Loire Valley,” suggests that it was prompted by

some actors’ experiences during a film-shoot in the

Loire valley in France. The first line of the first

couplet presents an image of mistletoe hanging in

poplar trees. Mistletoe is a parasitic evergreen that

grows on certain trees. The mistletoe absorbs wa-

ter and mineral nutrients from the tree, damaging

the tree. Some trees may be killed by an infesta-

tion of mistletoe. This is why in the poem the

poplars “can’t survive.” The poet may use the

phrase “clouds of mistletoe” because the abundance

of the plant’s white berries suggests clouds.

The second line of the couplet provides a con-

solation. The stately poplar trees, although festooned

with the mistletoe that will kill them still have a ben-

eficial effect on human life. They create a feeling of

enchantment when a person looks at them.

Couplet 2

The Loire Valley is known for its many cas-

tles built during the medieval and Renaissance eras.

Line 1 makes it clear that the film is being shot in-

side one of these castles. It is winter, the castle is

extremely cold, and the actors and film crew are

On Location in the Loire Valley

Diane Ackerman

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