Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” is a poem that describes how one should progress along the journey of life with the goal of becoming an individual. She implies that life is a journey where an individual must listen to themselves and overcome negative factors of the world such as negative people and bad experiences. They must do so in order to gain insight about what they have to do so they can move along the journey with the ultimate goal of saving themselves. Oliver repeatedly writes about the idea of one listening to themselves and knowing what one has to do. She does so in order to show that the ultimate goal of one’s journey is to become a person capable of thinking for themselves because in order for one to save themselves, one must first become their own individual. Oliver uses personification, imagery, and repetition to show how an individual must focus on themselves, ignore unnecessary distractions, and work through obstacles in order to recognize their own voice and save themselves.

In the beginning of the poem, Oliver writes: “One day you finally knew / what you had to do and began, / though the voices around you / kept shouting / their bad advice” (Oliver 1-5). Oliver begins with this idea of one knowing what they have to do in order to progress through life. She then follows it up with the voices which are shouting bad advice. Often times when a person is giving someone advice, that person is hoping to benefit from whatever it is they advise because it is in the human nature to do whatever it is that will benefit them. Here she shows that in order to successfully move along the journey, one has to drown out those voices which are shouting bad advice. This is evidenced when a few lines later in the poem, she writes: “each voice cried / But you didn’t stop” (Oliver 11-12).  She uses the voices to represent a distraction that one must overlook. One must ignore the voices, listening to themselves and doing what they want, because this will lead to them moving forward and ultimately saving themselves. 

Oliver also uses personification to show how one must power through the negatives of the world in order to develop along the journey of life and save themselves in the end. Oliver writes: “You knew what you had to do, / though the wind pried / with its stiff fingers” (Oliver 13-15). The wind is given a human like quality here; wind cannot pry with fingers. The wind represents a type of distraction trying to hold one back along the journey. The way she phrases these three lines shows that one knows that they have to ignore this distraction and work past it.  She ultimately personifies the wind here in order to demonstrate that along the journey of life there will be distractions and setbacks but one simply needs to ignore these and proceed on, worrying about saving themselves. 

Additionally, Oliver employs  visual imagery when she writes: “and the road full of fallen / branches and stones”, making it so the reader can visualize a path being blocked by these obstacles. (Oliver 21-22). Her use of imagery here shows one at a tough point in their journey, where they have to face many obstacles. The tough point here in the journey is that this is the point where one is transitioning into an individual and being able to think for themselves, listening to their own voice instead of others. She is using the imagery here to show how one needs to focus on themselves, ignoring distractions such as obstacles, so they can work and get through the hindrances they are faced with. Oliver is suggesting that in order to successfully find their own voice, one must be resilient, not succumbing to harsh times.

Moreover, repetition is used at the end of the poem to prove that one must focus on one thing, themselves. Oliver repeats “determined to” and “the only” in order to emphasize the idea that one should only focus on themselves if they want to successfully become an individual who thinks for themselves. It is a common belief that when one is unsure of something, they should go with their gut feeling and Oliver supports this belief of listening to yourself as she evidences in the poem.

Oliver ultimately is trying to convey the idea that one must listen to themselves and their inner voice, because it won’t lead you the wrong way. It makes sense to listen to your conscious, it won’t lie to you. It is clear that the poem is talking to “yourself” as it says “you” multiple times throughout. Also, it mentions the voices, which are nothing but distractions trying to discourage one from listening to themselves and mending their life. Lastly, towards the end of the poem, Oliver talks about “a new voice / which [one] slowly / recognizes as [their] own” (Oliver 27-29). This shows the final transition as one becomes an individual who listens to their own voice and not the ones around them.

In closing, Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” is conveying to the audience that the goal of one’s journey through life is too become an individual capable of thinking for themselves and saving themselves from whatever problems life may cause. Oliver employs rhetoric devices such as personification, imagery, and repetition in the poem. She does so in order to demonstrate how one must work through setbacks, navigate through obstacles, and focus on themselves in order to reach the end goal of becoming an individual capable of thinking for themselves. She also implies that in order to reach their goal, one has to simply think about themselves, ignoring things around them that could potentially be distractions, such as “voices shouting their bad advice” (Oliver 4-5). Essentially, one must focus on themselves, ignore distractions, and work through complications so they can recognize their own voice and save themselves.