
Journeys are the passage and progress from one stage to another which every individual goes through in life. In Mary Oliver’ poem, The Journey, she introduces the universal experience of self-discovery as a journey that involves many difficulties. The main character of the poem learns the hardships of finding one's self requires much effort. The lines of the poem demonstrate how Oliver combines tone and repetition along with comparisons of the individual to nature to show the character's development from dependence to independence. 

The audience first encounters intense and overwhelming tone of negativity in the beginning of the poem when Mary Oliver states, “One day you knew/ what you had to do, and began/the voices around you/ kept shouting/ their bad advice” (1-5). Right away the audience feels an overwhelming sense of darkness and force by the author’s word choice.  The intensity of the character’s situation increases when she states, “though the whole house/ began to tremble” (6,7). The use of the words “whole house” and “tremble” allow the audience to clearly envision this scene of a house shaking, directly relating to the voices shaking the foundation of the characters world, resulting in the start of the journey of self-discovery.  The added imagery of “the old tug at your ankles” in lines 8 and 9, immediately adds an emotional layer of pressure to the character’s decision as they start their journey. Voices crying “mend my life” and “...shouting their bad advice” throughout the poem, convince the audience to feel sympathy for the character by appealing to familiar emotions of frustration and the reluctance to change.  All of these feelings come together at the end of line 10 where Mary Oliver uses an exclamation point to express the desperation each voice is vocalizing in hopes of stopping the character from making progress in their journey. Through these emotions Mary Oliver successfully convinces the audience that the character is worthy of sympathy for their efforts in their journey.

In the rhythmic line, “you knew what you had to do”, Mary Oliver uses perspective to effectively adjust the transition of tone from overwhelming negativity to a sense of determination (12).  The audience recognizes that it is specifically self-determination that needs to be achieved by the character as this line is spoken to oneself. This conclusion is made more apparent to the reader towards the end of the poem when the author states, “the stars began to burn/ through the sheet of clouds”, Mary Oliver is recognizing a new voice that comes through illustrating the idea that confidence is being built and confusion is being destroyed as the negative voices are being left behind (25,26). As a result, the reader gets a sense of relief as they virtually step out of the darkness with the character into a new world that embodies the transition to independence. 

Mary Oliver uses the repetition of words to clearly illustrate the conflict in the character’s journey of self- discovery. The word “voice” is repeated several times throughout the poem allowing the reader to understand the struggle the character has to endure. “Voice” is first used in the beginning of the poem and has a negative connotation associated with it. It is a voice shouting “bad advice”, triggering a feeling of being chained to the character's past. The second time this word voice is mentioned, it’s crying for help, causing further inner conflict in the character achieving independence. The meaning of the word “voices” changes significantly when repeated a third time.  Now it means independence. The independent voice becomes stronger,  weakening the influence over the character and their ultimate decision. Oliver makes it clear in the last uses of the word “voice” that the individual has finally found their own voice by portraying this voice as “new” letting the reader know the goal of starting this journey has finally been accomplished.

Mary Oliver repeats the word “determined” twice within the last four lines of the poem to emphasize the end result of this journey. Determination allows the audience to see that the journey would not have been achieved by the character if they had not experienced and recognized the struggles along the way. The audience gets a feeling of self-determination and confidence as the character develops himself/herself implying that one can accomplish anything with this trait. Determination also helps the character come to the realization that they can only control and save their own life and no one else's, making them realize that they are responsible for their own self-determination.

When Mary Oliver states, “though the wind pried/ with its stiff fingers” (14,15), she is comparing nature to humans by personifying the wind as fingers prying into the character’s past. The audience visualizes and sympathizes with the specific hardships an individual encounters in a journey of self-discovery that tie them to their past. The brutal wind is portrayed as not letting go, resulting in the audience being able to visualize the determination being tested by the relentless voices. The comparison continues when Oliver states, “and the road full of fallen / branches and stones” (21,22). The word “fallen” conjures a feeling of helplessness. The emotions elicited by the words “It was already late/ enough, and a wild night,” suggest darkness and a sense of chaos allowing the reader to comprehend Mary Oliver’s point of how difficult it is to acquire confidence in one’s own voice (19,20). Using the comparison, “the stars began to burn/ through the sheets of clouds” this metaphor ensures the link between the individual efforts and the discovery of the character’s “new” voice (25,26). Mary Oliver’s action of the stars burning away the clouds is a metaphor for the recognition of clarity the character finally achieves in gaining their independence. 

Mary Oliver uses tone, repetition, and comparison to effectively convince the reader that this journey of self-discovery that this character goes through is difficult, but worth it in the end. From the beginning to the end of this journey Mary Oliver clearly illustrates the necessary steps to make the transition from dependence to independence. By successfully appealing to the audience’s sense of emotion and clearly illustrating what this journey entails and the benefits that are achieved from taking that journey. Through skillful word choice and the use of rhetorical techniques she convinces the reader to embody this journey with the character by tapping into their emotions.
 