In “Messenger,” Oliver utilizes the concepts of work and the natural world surrounding her to explore the relationship between life and death. She demonstrates how immersing herself in that triad can ultimately bring her into true presence, awe, and wonder of life itself—in whatever form it may take. The theme of nature grounds the poem, but the theme of life carries it forward. Oliver explores not only the life around her, but her own existence in relation to and as an integral part of the natural world. There is a much action and movement in the opening stanza. “The sunflowers” and “the hummingbird” (Line 2) are characterized as “seekers” (Line 3). The bread being made in the home is not done, but instead is described mid-action as the “yeast” is “quickening” (Line 4). Even “the clam,” who is not necessarily moving, is given the momentum of its life-in-action as Oliver describes it as “deep in the speckled sand” (Line 5). Everything is seen in perpetuity, moving individually but collectively through life.

The pervasive foreboding of death looms in the second stanza as the speaker pulls inward and away from the natural imagery of the first stanza.