

Often readers, no matter what the content of the text is and before they realize what it is about, they judge and perceive the text in their own way. Of course this can be influenced by the author as well, but this is what connects the reader to the story and allows them to gain a greater meaning, or a different meaning than others. The different tone and mood authors use in their writing can help engage the reader and create a better understanding of the piece. In “The Journey” by Mary Oliver, Oliver uses and ascending mood to get the reader excited and mostly inspired, and also uses a unique tone that makes the reader set focus on individuality to reach success. 

Throughout the poem Oliver uses and ascending type of rhythm and flow to create this mood of grinding to reach success. As often occurs in reaching success, Oliver describes failures and temptations in the beginning of reaching success. In the beginning of the poem, “though the whole house began to tremble” says Oliver, this signifies a slow start on the journey. This creates a sense of urgency in the mood and the idea of escape for the one on the journey. As the journey progresses Oliver makes it seem as though that these negative influences begin to get farther away and the one on the journey begins to roll. The mood begins to turn from negative to positive, and it almost seems like reading the poem becomes faster. The reader begins to realize that not everything is sad and negative in the poem, and that inspiration is gradually drawn from the progression of the poem. Once a certain point in the goal is reached, it is like one’s life was cleansed then they began to fly from there as they got rid of all the bad. This continues to make the reader feel very inspired from the tone that Oliver uses. Through the change in moods, one can now realize that the themes of progress and success truly come out, instead of failure and negative influences. The real turning point in the poem is when Oliver says, “…as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn…”, and the reader can realize this progress and effort being made. The reader gets satisfaction in knowing that hard work and effort can lead to success, and these really instills this inspirational mood. 

A secondary theme related to confidence and also comes out at this point, and the mood of the poem instantly lightens up and the reader can understand that the progress is paying off. Without reading another line, one can tell that the success is near and this is because of the change from an extremely negative and slow mood to a much faster paced, confident, and ascending mood. Oliver uses the negative start and positive progression to individual hard work and success to make the reader feel good and confident with a proper mindset. However good the mood may be, this sense of goodness and ascending mood suddenly reach a halt when Oliver says, “… determined to save the only life you could save.” It is almost like a shock in the poem when all of a sudden the feeling of destiny and hard work leads to a realization that all one can do is help themselves, and everything else is out of control. This shifts the mood from a feeling of success and fulfillment to a feeling of being lost and confusion. The mood makes the reader feel depleted and confused about all the entire progression in the poem. After finishing the poem the reader feels inspired and successful, however confused because there is always a catch in everything. 

The author’s tone in different pieces can also place a big influence on the way we perceive the meaning of texts. Oliver’s unique and subjective tone is reflected in the poem and changes the reader’s thoughts, leading to the understand of a self-reliance related theme. The way that Oliver describes the journey shows that at the end of the day everything can only be controlled by one’s self and their motivations. The poem has an intentional concrete tone involving individuality, making no mention of outside influences. Oliver shows that she has an issue with other’s interfering in personal business. Her tone really focuses the reader’s in on only themselves without the consideration of others, because all they do is bring you down and hold you back on the way to success. She does not describe a single positive outside influence and uses the exclamation, “ ’Mend my life!’ each voice cried.” The poem illustrates that success must be reached individually. Contrary to the popular opinion that positive outside influences help on the road to success, her negative tone towards everyone but oneself shows that the main theme in the poem is that success is achieved through one’s own perseverance and one’s own mental capacity. Oliver’s tone is so dead set on being nearly selfish and arrogant, that all that can be taken from the piece is that from the perspective of one making the journey, is to ignore every being around oneself and do one’s own thing, because everyone else will decelerate and impede on one’s own road to success. 

Through Oliver’s writing, the reader gains an inspired feeling, as well as a feeling of confidence and general goodness. However, the feeling comes with a feeling of loneliness and confusion. The poem leaves the reader with mixed emotions. This leaves the reader with a better understand of the themes of self-reliance, success, and confidence. The reader reflects the style and way the author intentionally writes, in the mood. In addition with the unique tone making mention of only individual work and getting away from other’s desperation, the reader is able to better understand the themes of the poem through these literary elements used by the author. 
