Someone’s understanding or interpretation of a work of literature can vary depending on one’s views and outlooks that one upholds. It’s crucial to understand that not every person will believe or interpret things the same way you do; however, in literature it is common for the reader to develop differing views on a piece of literature. For example, the purpose of Mary Oliver’s “The Journey”, was to explain the trouble and hardships we will face on our way to find our own voice. Oliver starts the poem off when we cannot escape what is around us, but we know we have to. Society traps us in, but we know we have to get out. Oliver takes us on a journey to find our own voice. Mary Oliver uses imagery, symbolism, and figurative language to portray the idea of one’s entrapment in the society that we inhabit and the way one will escape from it. 

Often authors will use imagery to portray a larger meaning within their works. Imagery is the use of figurative language to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Mary Oliver uses examples of weather within “The Journey” to allow the reader to give the poem a deeper meaning. For example, she says, “You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though the melancholy was terrible.” Oliver used the wind in this instance to give the idea of how strong the pull of society’s constraints actually can be. Oliver was trying to tell the reader that in order to become an individual within a world full of selfish people, there is no holding back. This transformation into the person you want to become cannot be done until you realize you have to let go of the past. Oliver says, “It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones.” Oliver is trying to explain that this journey is not easy and it is not supposed to be, but in order to become yourself and escape society’s constraints you must put forth a great deal of effort. The fallen branches and stones symbolize the hardships that will be encountered throughout the transformation. It already takes an abundance of effort to realize you can do this, so having to pass through these obstacles does not make the transition any easier. These certain branches and stones could be anything or anyone feeding you bad advice or holding you back from becoming everything that you have always wanted to be. We must break away from the control to actualize our selfhood. Oliver says, “But little by little, as you left your 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’s, “little by little” represents that each little step we take in finding ourselves is one little step closer to the big picture. In the lines, “The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own” the stars represent the light that finally goes off in our brain breaking through the sheets of clouds that were all the voices that have controlled you your whole life. This is the point in the poem that we realize that it was our own voice that led us throughout this journey, it was our own voice that saved us from the “voices around us shouting their bad advice”. This is the climax of the poem. Oliver’s use of imagery in “The Journey” is intended to represent the battles the speaker encounters. The imagery allows the reader to interpret the larger meaning of the poem even though the meaning is not spelled out for you. 

Authors also often use symbolism to allow readers to gain a larger knowledge of the overall meaning they are trying to convey. Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense. In Oliver’s, “The Journey”, the voices symbolize the ongoing pressures of society and bad habits that we cannot stop. The only purpose the voices have is “shouting their bad advice”. In today’s society we are expected to conform to society’s “norms” in order to fit in. Mary Oliver chose the voices to symbolize these pressures because bad habits and peer pressure leave lingering thoughts in our minds, denying us our right to break free and become our own selves. There are some aspects of life where things may be expected of you, but Mary Oliver is using this poem to give us the duty to find our own voice even though we have so many other voices shouting our way. Mary Oliver uses the wind to symbolize the force pressures and habits have on you. The wind is example of how hard breaking away can be because we are constantly being pulled in the opposite direction. Mary Oliver used wind to symbolize this because the overall journey is one big “storm” and the wind (society’s pressures) is the primary cause for its existence. Oliver uses branches and stones to symbolize the obstacles encountered throughout the transformation into becoming a new person. Any transition has its hardships, but especially this one. Oliver chooses to symbolize these hardships with branches and stones to show that we have to walk down a path to achieve our goals and that it will not be easy. The “voices” throws these “branches and stones” on our path; meaning society will not let us escape its pressures without a fight. Oliver says, “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own.” She uses the stars to symbolize a light bulb sparking in the brain bursting through the sheets of clouds which symbolize the anxious thoughts we previously had about breaking out of society’s constraints that we have let control our every thought for far too long. This symbolizes our final leap into our new life. Oliver’s use of symbols allowed the reader to take simple words and put a real meaning to them, relating them to their own life. 

Figurative language is a key concept in poetry. Figurative language is the use of figures of speech to be more effective, persuasive and impactful. After all the imagery and symbolism, Mary Oliver’s, “The Journey” happens to be one long extended metaphor. The term extended metaphor refers to a comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. Mary Oliver uses the extended metaphor to compare a physical journey to a mental journey. The physical journey is the literal journey taken in the poem; from voices shouting, to wind prying, to branches and stones falling, to stars burning. The mental journey is the one taken in the mind of the speaker; from society’s traps, to the force of old habits, to unnecessary obstacles, to finally breaking through the hold of the world around you. The difficult aspect of understanding this poem is that theoretically, Oliver, is explaining two different journeys within the same group of lines. The purpose of the physical journey was to allow the reader to navigate their own mental journey and to go where ever it may take them. Mary Oliver’s reason for using the extended metaphor was to use a human journey to serve as an example for the reading, allowing them to realize where they want their journey to take them. She wanted the ready to experience this journey throughout the reading and to find that it was ourselves and only ourselves that got us through this treacherous fight. To find that all we had to do was stay true to who we are and what we believe and that we will eventually get to where we are intended to be. Listening to our inner conscious is the only way to complete the journey to finding the real reason we were put on this earth and how we are supposed to act on it. 

 Mary Oliver uses imagery, symbolism, and figurative language to portray the idea of one’s entrapment in the society that we inhabit and the way one will escape from it. Oliver’s purpose was to allow the reader to realize that it is a good thing to move on from the old and on to the new. The way Mary Oliver incorporates imagery, symbolism, and figurative language to the extent they are used is what makes this poem so special. Without these three topics the reader would have only gotten the physical journey out of the reading. She wanted the reader to look deeper and to recognize that in order to live the life we are meant live we must listen to our inner voices and let go of anything holding us back. We are put on this earth to carry out a purpose and if you find that purpose, you need to run with it and never turn back. 
