Mary Oliver illustrates the cycle of life in “The Journey” by allowing the reader to experience it through her poem. There will be obstacles and moments in which each individual will be stopped and held back from continuing on their journey but ignoring those resistances will be the solution to find the only voice that matters: your own. Oliver starts off the poem with the resistances one may face but transforms to the realization of finding individuality and propelling through the journey of life. This transformation is reflected in the poem by the shift from the description of the resistances then to finding your own voice. In her poem, “The Journey,” Mary Oliver expresses the ongoing cycle of resistance other people and the world present in the journey to attain individuality and self-fulfillment by only listening to your own voice. 

The journey Oliver illustrates is reflected in the form of the poem itself. In the first part of the poem Oliver writes about how the other voices around you will always be there and set you back on the journey of life, “the voices around you/ kept shouting their bad advice,” (Oliver 3-5). She also writes about some obstacles you will face and how at times other people will be in need, which is another set back. She then has a break in the poem where it shifts to the realization that only your voice is the one that matters “as you left their voices behind,” (Oliver 24) and you can only save one life, your own. That shift is symbolic to how the journey itself has breaks from all the obstacles and there will be time when it’s just all about you. Oliver also uses specific word choices in her poem to convey to the reader that this journey is an ongoing cycle. “You felt the old tug/ at your ankles” (Oliver 8-9) is evidence that it is an on going cycle because Oliver uses words like ‘old’ to clarify to the reader that this is something that has been there before. The cries from the voices are not new they are cries that have been memorized and reoccurring. These other voices that “kept shouting” (Oliver 4) have been committed to memory and something that one will get used too. Another word choice Oliver often repeats throughout her poem is “you” and “your”. She repeatedly uses these words to stress that each journey is different because everyone is different and an individual. By constructing the poem around those word choices, it is her way to expresses to the reader that everyone’s journey is about attaining their own individuality and self- fulfillment. Oliver also uses allegories in her poem to express to the reader the things you will come across in your journey, like the resistances. “As you strode deeper and deeper/ into the world/ determined to do/ the only thing you could do,” (Oliver 31-33) is one-way Oliver presents an image in the readers mind to make the poem seem like real life. The reader could picture him or herself going through the struggles of life but driven to reach their goals no matter how hard it was to get there. 

Right from the beginning of the poem Oliver introduces us to the resistances and obstacles you may face along your journey. We live in a world where people feel entitled to judge and make comments based on who you are, how you act, etc. “The voices around you/ kept shouting/ their bad advice” (Oliver 3-5), the voices of other people and the society which we live in are those voices of resistances that set us back. Society tries to conform us to be “normal” which impedes on persevering your way through your journey. Oliver also expresses to the reader that at times voices will cry out for help, “Mend my Life!” (Oliver 10). People are always asking for help but you have to put yourself first sometimes and continue on your journey despite “their melancholy” (Oliver 17) voices. It’s other people that will be distractions in your life. It is the peer pressure and the feeling of wanting to fit in that will alter your path to finding yourself. Not only voices of people and society but “the road full of fallen/ branches and stones” (Oliver 21-22), will also set you back. Everyone will endure some burdens that will put a temporary pause on the journey but “little by little” (Oliver 23), you will get started on the journey to finding yourself.

In the second part of the poem before the break where Oliver shifts from talking about the resistances that will hinder your journey to leaving them behind and focusing in on the only voice that matters, your own, she uses imagery to allow the reader to imagine that pivotal moment in life itself. She talks about “the stars beginning to burn/ through the sheets of the clouds” (Oliver 25-26), symbolizing finally navigating through the fog, the unknown things in life. The word burn offers the reader the image of purification through fire. She is making the reader imagine the darkness that the obstacles caused to finally burn out and bring light to the journey. Oliver expresses these set backs and these voices that cry out to us to then leave the reader with a mission to find their own. Like Oliver writes, “little by little” (Oliver 23), you will be able to leave the voices behind. She makes it clear to the reader that overcoming these resistances is not easy and will not happen overnight. Oliver reveals to the reader that the journey is a slow and difficult process in the lines “Which you slowly/ recognized as your own/ that kept you company/ as you strode deeper and deeper/ into the world.”(Oliver 28-32).  Once you learn to step away from the voices in society that control your every move, you will come to realization that only your voice can control you. Oliver continues to use imagery of light and dark again with 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.” (Oliver 25-29). This is Oliver symbolizing the light bulb that will go off when you finally realize that only your voice matters. This is where she transforms her poem to expressing to the reader that your voice is the only thing that should be heard and listened too in your journey. 

Oliver’s poem, “The Journey”, is about transforming and overcoming the ongoing cycle of resistances other people present you with through your life journey when trying to find yourself. She does this by the way she constructs the poem and the language of the poem itself. It is not about stepping out of the world but into it and into your own journey. Being true to yourself is the way to finding yourself despite everything life throws at you or what you may come across. The only voice that matters is your own and in order to avoid the other voices that shout and cry at you is breaking away from conformity and finding individuality. Living in a world where others rely on one another and where society has a big effect on our lives it is difficult to find your own voice. Facing resistances and distractions also make it difficult to find your own voice.  The poem itself reveals the actual moment in life when we must break away from the other voices and focus in on your own. This whole journey is a life experience in itself but only you can walk your journey, no one else. Since only you can walk your journey, only your voice matters. This journey entails being an individual and finding the ultimate goal of your life. Discovering yourself and what your purpose in life is not supposed to be easy especially with distractions and set backs, but finding that moment of courage to only listen to one voice, your own, will put you one step closer on the right path in your own life journey. 
