While reading Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” she uses dialogue and voices of others throughout the poem. She is trying to get us to hone in on a specific part of the poem, the journey she takes throughout this part of her life. Mary Oliver is using voice and dialogue as signals to us readers that we need to pay attention to the poem in the exact moment the device is used. The voices throughout the poem are used to show the progression towards independence. Only those who leave behind the negativity in their lives will succeed in creating a new life for themselves.

Oliver sets the scene of the poem by beginning a one-sided dialogue with herself. Oliver writes “Knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice” (92). Mary Oliver is showing that she came to a realization about her life. At the time this was written there was a resurgence among LGBTQ community activists. Being gay during the AIDS epidemic was difficult for the entire LGBTQ population. As she comes to terms with her life, she is determined to create something better for herself. She uses the voices for three reasons in this part of the poem. The first is as a representation of the negative aspects in her life currently. Each of the voices represents something different that Oliver is struggling with, something she must come to terms with before she can move on. The second is to show that our future is not set in stone, but that it’s up to us to take control It is up to us to decide what is best for us personally, not others. Lastly the voices represent those who do not actually care for her. Not people who wish her ill, just those who do not have what is best for her at heart. Oliver leaves behind the aspects of her life that are holding her back, and in doing so she makes the conscious decision that she wants something better for herself.

Further on in the poem the negative people surrounding her are actually holding her back. “You felt the old tug at your ankles. “mend my life!” each voice cried” (Oliver 92). Oliver is showing us how people who are in our lives everyday often unintentionally hold us back (even though in the text it appears intentional). The reason that Oliver is showing us slowed her down is to get us to understand that the people with whom we interact may not be what is best for us. While in the poem she could feel the pull towards those people, she wants us to understand that even they do not know they hold us back, it is a realization one must make for themselves. It is very important for us to cut ties with those would hold us back, just as the she is doing by moving on with her life. She ends her connection with these people when she realizes that in order to further herself, she must leave them behind. The author is telling us that in order for her truly succeed, she has to cut connections with people or things that hold her back from where she wants to be in life. 

Oliver uses her voice one final time in the poem to show that she has finally moved on and is making progress towards a new life. She can no longer hear the negative people holding her back, but instead hears a new one. “There was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world” (Oliver 92).  Mary Oliver wants this new voice to represent her own conscious, now emerging since she has left behind all the negativity in life. Once Oliver can hear her voice, she knows she has made the leap from her old life to her new one. Oliver wants us to interpret that it was her decision to move on that allowed her to be more successful.

The use of dialogue contributes to the poem, and to our understanding. Dialogue is used as a signal of change multiple times in the poem. When Oliver uses dialogue it is easy to realize what is happening. Dialogue is seldom used in the poetry so that when Oliver uses it we immediately notice. The change from the conventional poetry writing style brings us out of the lull we might be in as we notice the change and brings us right back into the poem. This was a clever technique used by Oliver to get the reader to sub-consciously focus on the dialogue. Every time dialogue is used it represents a key point in Mary Oliver’s journey. The first point when she begins her journey, second when she fights through hardship, and finally when she reaches the end. Mary Oliver’s use of dialogue gave her poem something unique, making it stand out to the readers and assist in their comprehension of the piece.

In Mary Oliver’s “The Journey”, Oliver repeatedly uses voice to emphasize certain parts of her writing. She uses both dialogue of her talking to “herself” as well as the “voices” of those in her life. Throughout the poem “voices” represent negative people and feelings she had in her life. The first time she used the “voice” was to show her realization of the life was living. The second time it was used, the “voices” were actually “holding” her back. The third and final use of “voice” was to show that once she cut everything that was negative from her life, she finally had the feeling that she was succeeding. The first two uses of “voice” were similar in that they were the same “characters,” and used in similar ways. The voices’ goal was to prevent the Oliver from moving on. Oliver’s use of voice changes for the last time in the form of her own conscious thought, showing that she was the one in control of her life now; she was in the driver’s seat. The various uses of voice used in the poem, make it more detail and making it easier to comprehend what Oliver is trying to get across to us.
