
Mary Oliver, poet of The Journey (1986), tells of the endless struggles experience throughout one’s life as one grows and discovers his or her true identity. Through the use of repetition, personification, tone/volta, and structure Oliver argues that through perseverance against obstacles and struggles encountered throughout the journey of life one is able to discover their true identity. Oliver’s ideal target audience are readers who can relate to the struggles and obstacles that can be faced in life, but in the end, he or she becomes victorious, discovering who he or she is. The tone begins as showing you struggling through life, but when the volta of the poem begins things begin to turn around for you.

Repetition is a key component in The Journey, and is used in more than one way. Alliteration is one form of repetition—similar to other uses of repetition alliteration is used to attract a reader’s attention to a given idea—is seen being used, “…though the wind pried/with its stiff finger/at the very foundations…” showing repetition of “th” (14-16). Oliver brings attention to these particular lines to show a representation of how the ideas of one person can easily “play” or change the perception of an individual. “…the very foundations…” represents an individual’s root ideas, or an individual’s conscious (16). If one is not careful then those surrounding him or her can hold back the individual, but it is not only those surrounding a given individual rather society as a whole. Oliver also uses repetition to emphasize to readers that she is directly trying to make a connection to him or her, using “you” a total of fourteen times. Oliver is wanting to show readers that she is speaking specifically to him or her, “One day you finally know/what you had to do…” and “But you didn’t stop/You knew what you had to do…” (1-2, 12-13). Readers come upon the word “though,” which is a shorter version of the word although, “…though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice/though the whole house began to tremble/though the wind pried with its stiff fingers/though their melancholy was terrible” (Oliver 3-7, 14-15, and 17-18). Though can be seen as a representation of the negative obstacles faced, as it is used before the negative obstacles represented. 

Oliver does not use personification as much as other elements, but Oliver’s use of personification represents a strong message for her readers. “…the wind pried/with its stiff fingers…” life is given to the wind to personify the idea that there are those that will have a tight grip on an individual’s voice and direction if they allow it, but with persistence and determination one is able to push past those holding him or her back (14-15). Oliver convinces her readers to push past those attempting to hold you back, and in doing so furthers the process of stepping away from the conformities of society and those within society. Within these particular lines a darker and more eerie tone is represented in The Journey.

The tone shifts throughout Oliver’s work, beginning with an eerie sense of lost tone, while changing to a happier tone of self-discovery. Through the use of words, and punctuation Oliver is able to convey the sadness, excitement, or confusion of the journey of individualism. There is one particular line, showing excitement, “Mend my life!” shows how determination will allow for one to separate from the contemporary ideas (10). Volta occurs during The Journey causing a change in the journey peculiarity of one’s self, “…the sheets of clouds…” represents uncertain thoughts about what it would be like to break away from the normal of society (Oliver, 26). Beginning to end Oliver sets an argumentative tone for her readers, an understanding tone, allowing readers to hear and understand her message loud and clear (1-36). The structure of Oliver’s poem also allows for readers to make a connection of how life can throw many obstacles and or struggles at someone, but through perseverance anything can and will be overcome.

There are visual interchanges that can be seen throughout the poem that show representation of ups and downs that someone may face in life. Longer lines in The Journey represent the positives in life, the ups, and the shorter lines represent the negatives, the downs. Some of the positives come with realization of a break from contemporary ideas and breaking through and becoming who you are meant to be, “…what you had to do, and began…as you left their voices behind…determined to do the only thing you could do…” (Oliver, 2, 24, 33-34). There are no defined stanzas within Oliver’s poem, allowing for the readers to not allow a break up of thoughts. In representation to this Oliver uses this to show that life has no breaks; time is continuous and stops for no one, there is never a break.

The Journey follows a basic pattern beginning with obstacles/struggles  decision (how to handle the obstacles/struggles)  direction (how to overcome the obstacles/struggles)  persistence (with persistence one is able to move forward with finding individuality)  revelation (understanding the obstacles/struggles and overcoming them)  reflection (accepting what has happened and moving forward in one’s life). Oliver exemplifies the journey that someone might face when removing him or herself from the idealistic notions of people in and around society. There are those that struggle in finding his or her own voice, but with persistence and determination in using an individual’s own voice and not letting society change that voice there will come an opportunity to become someone, someone unique. The journey of life will sometimes be more difficult for others as everyone has their own demons to fight, but Oliver shows her readers that they must push past those demons and fight for what they believe in. Individualism might come at a price, but if it means that he or she is a better and or happier person in the end then that means they were determined to break away from society and prove themselves.
