
Oliver describes finding the direction in which to go in life and starting to become more focused towards more personal ambitions.  By reading this poem, it can be determined that even in regular life, strong characteristics are needed to live life with free will and not be heavily influenced by negativity. The Journey by Mary Oliver, shows that determination through obstacles leads to finding a more personal exploration through the use of  mood and tone, symbolism, and imagery.  

The Journey depicts how negativity and positivity effects your actions in life. In the beginning of the poem the mood gives a strong negative feeling when saying that the “whole house” is being rattled, which for our narrator means that everything is being upset by these “voices” (Oliver). “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice—“ (Oliver). The poet shows us the path of this journey, the lines of the poem are long and winding much like the road that the speaker in the poem is journeying on.  After listening to this negativity, the poet in an inspiring tone describes that you can’t stop even though it will get rough, as life can be occasionally, constantly, and anywhere in between. This journey represents the path through life chasing your own ambitions, and the challenges that come along with achieving those desires. Although you may be lost in the path taken, the poet is saying essentially that once it is found, focus and determination to stay on course is a necessity. Oliver goes deep enough into the metaphor of “the journey” to say that voices will keep shouting which alludes to life’s challenges being never ending (Oliver). 

Through symbols the poet shows how life can turn into a challenge. Mary Oliver presents life as realistically as possible by involving negativity in the midst of every day life. Oliver leaving out the substantial bit of specificity about the voices being an object or people displays the symbolism that the voices could play in anyone’s life. “Mend my life!” each voice cried.”” The voices are crying out for help, as though they have already ruined their goals leaving their main objective to be to ruin yours. To take it a step further, Oliver gives the example that the voices want help to fix their rummaged lives, taking away focus from the narrator’s own life. Thereafter, she also intentionally briefly depicts imagery of  a wind frustrating our narrator even more, wind being uncontrollable and unexpected. The voices’ shouts are equivalent to the daily distraction, procrastination, and hinderances that is the barricade around reaching true goals. No one lives a perfect life where events run as smoothly as they would like them to, causing the frustration and barricade to be understandable.  The voices could be any distraction or hinderance in life that could prevent you from striving deeper and deeper into the world. This reference to depth meaning that continuously having the ability to take on personal challenges of interest, while in the process acquiring a more worldly view creating knowledgeable depth because of these different experiences. Oliver also indirectly indicates that we should take on these challenges because it is our own life that we are in charge of, because of this opportunity to “do the only thing you could do”.  Free will and choices are left out of the text, yet they are strongly related to everything this poet is stating. Oliver may intentionally be leaving these out in order to say that life only allows you one feasible option sometimes. There is also more symbolism in that Oliver vaguely describes that there is something the narrator wants to do which is relatable to anyone allowing the reader to be inserted into the text.

In this poem Oliver gives a visual representation of life that the reader can understand alongside her text. “It was already late/enough, and a wild night,/and the road full of fallen/branches and stones. /But little by little,/as you left their voices behind,/the stars began to burn/through the sheets of clouds,/and there was a new voice/which you slowly/recognized as your own…” Oliver is almost painting a picture with such vivid description. Being late enough represents the amount of time wasted being held up from your goal, while the fallen branches and stones are the blocks that prevent success. The “voices” leaving depicts determination as well as clearness of mind, after all the negativity starts to fade away. Stars burning is the light that guides this new found clarity, bringing about the “new voice”. Oliver’s use of imagery and symbolism is intertwined here to show that as a result of this determination, the journey becomes more personalized. Using this personalized journey leads to a high amount of determination in order to achieve something more relatable and important . 

Analyzing “The Journey” by Mary Oliver with mood and tone, symbolism, and imagery shows us that not only can the narrator withstand life’s negative curveballs, but so can everyone that commits themselves to their goals. Throughout this poem, is this journey intertwined with free will and destiny? Oliver leaves this poem open for a lot of discussion intentionally, this is because life itself doesn’t answer all the questions. Whether or not you have faced limited experience with “voices” in your personal exploration, Oliver displays the process in which to get through it. Free will lends itself so that everyone has the opportunity to take the “journey” however they see fit. The use of diction describes the poem’s flow which compares to life’s flow of events, known and unknown. The three literary devices are so connected throughout this poem that imagery is symbolic and comparable to life circumstances, yet this is described through the diction chosen.

