Most people, at some point in their life, hit a wall of negativity. Mary Oliver, in her poem, “The Journey,” emphasizes the trouble negativity has in the accomplishment of her goal, and later on how she pushes through it. The purpose of Oliver’s writing is to help galvanize a specific group of her readers. A group, whose personal level of courage has held them back from surmounting all the challenges presented to them. She adopts a vehement tone to attract an audience who may be lost within their existence and to pull them into her writing. Oliver utilizes the influence of emotion, voice, and imagery to ameliorate her overall message of subduing negativity. 

Oliver begins her poem by using the rhetorical strategy of emotion. Emotion is a very simple, yet complex feature, that everyone has the ability to relate to. She appeals to the audience through emotion by saying that although “the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice” (line 3 -5) and “the whole house began to tremble” (line 6 - 7) she kept pushing on and “left their voices behind” (line 24). Within the consequential quote from the poem, she is able to instill a sense of negativity, while later bringing a sense of hope. Oliver incorporates the destructive stanzas to reveal the severity of negativity. She wants the readers to comprehend that those around her were “tearing down her walls” to get to her inner emotion. She draws upon the sentiment of hope to motivate her audience to “save the only life you could save” (line 35 - 36); Oliver recognizes, here, that a human being must “save themselves from within” before tending to the needs of others. This perception of hope enabled the reader to apprehend that although the world may have been pushing down on her, she prevailed and stayed on her own personal path to success. By incorporating these quotes within the poem, Oliver permits the reader to grasp the complication that she has gone through while at the same time allowing them to decipher that it was a task that she had to accomplish on her own. The multitude of emotions strategically applied by Oliver forces the reader to fully scrutinize and fathom what she meant by the specific word selection, and how it affects the significance of the poem itself.

Oliver then shifts to the rhetorical strategy of voice. She begins with a cynical voice stating, “kept shouting their bad advice” (line 4 - 5), to widen the eyes of the audience. She incorporates this quote to exhibit that the additional voices are driven by their own self-interest. Their counsel and direction is useless in her journey. Halfway through the poem she switches to an optimistic voice by saying “as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds” (line 24 - 26). These words presented by Oliver demonstrate a sense of hope with the vision of a positive future. This statement represents how the cynical voices were blocking all that was good within her life, the stars representing the good. As she pushed through the clouding voices, the opportunity for a brighter future had become clearer. Oliver utilize the voices as a rhetorical strategy to display here true feelings during that specific moment. The multitude of rhetorical methods used by Mary Oliver not only pulls together all the loose ends. It also intensifies the significance of the text, enabling a substantial connection between reader and poem.

Repetition of the words “you knew what you had to do” (line 13) and how it changes slightly, represents the poem’s growing resolve of the author accomplishing her goal. This relates to the strategy voice due to the message of Oliver changing slightly throughout the duration of the poem. She begins the poem saying, “you knew what you had to do” (line 1 – 2). At this point it becomes apparent to the audience that the author is finally recognizing that actions must be taken. She cannot continue upon the same path, she must expand out past the horizon and accomplish all she was made to do. Halfway through this poem the expression “you knew what you had to do” (line 13) is mentioned again. At this point it is the same string of words, but it has a more profound and different meaning. Within this context, the word choice exhibits her involvement of being in the process. She first knew what she had to do, now she is acting on it. Although certain circumstances may have knocked her down, she is prevailing and striving towards her destiny. The final place that we see the similar string “only thing you could do” (line 34) is at the end of the poem. Within this point of mental development, she has finally pushed past all the negativity, and is finally on her own. She knew what she had wanted to achieve in her lifetime and she went out and obtained it. Within this poem, the connotation of this simple sentence changed significantly. It began with her knowing, began to change with her acting, and then finished with her accomplishing.

Oliver closes with the final rhetorical strategy of imagery. Through the different uses of words and phrases, Oliver is able to inculcate a multitude of senses within her audience. Oliver instills these different senses through the imagery of nature. The implementation of nature to illustrate items within a writing allows for a more intense and sometimes a clearer interpretation for the reader. Through Oliver’s word choice, she is able to produce the imagery of sight. Within the writing, she says the road is “full of fallen branches and stones” (line 21 - 22). By utilizing this specific word choice the reader is able to “see” the obstacles. They are able to see the path in front of them is being blocked, and it will not be easy to overcome. Nevertheless, further down the road “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds” (line 25 - 26). The incorporation of this statement is quite unique, in that it leaves room for interpretation to the audience. Due to the imagery, the reader may be picturing themselves personally on the path “full of fallen branches and stones” (line 21 – 22) with the “stars [beginning] to burn” in the distant future. Depending upon the reader’s situation within life, the elucidation of the lines will differentiate. The audience may see themselves as to already overcoming the obstacle on their path, and that has led them to the bright light of the future. However, the readers may also see it as being stuck behind the obstacle, picturing themselves being motivated by the bright light of the future to overcome the obstacles. This imagery is special in it that allows for the reader to place themselves within the reading, but also interpret in a way that relates best to their situation. Whether they have overcome the obstacle and are looking for further direction, or are still stuck behind the hardship and need that motivation to push forward, Oliver has provided it. Through Mary Oliver’s use of imagery, the audience is able to gain a first-hand experience by being presented with the ability to place themselves within the situation. She realizes that everyone is faced with different challenges. By leaving the message open for interpretation, it allows for the results to reach a larger audience. 

Many people succumb to the struggles presented within their lives. Yet, hardships are something that every human being goes through within their existence. Whether it is embraced or hidden is what defines the character of a person. Oliver within her poem desires to plant motivation into the heart of her audience. Through the utilization of emotion, voice, and imagery. Oliver is able to inspire her readers to never give up in the search for what they want. The drive and motivation to go after what one wants, is all we need within a lifetime.
