We find ourselves struggling on a daily basis with the decision of whether to conform, or to break free from society to find ourselves. Mary Oliver choose to take us through this experience in her poem titled “The Journey”. Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” tells a story of newfound individualism through extended metaphors, vivid imagery, and active personification. The strong theme of independence and self-awareness comes together as a whole through Mary Oliver’s unique and unstructured writing style. Oliver writes this not only as a poem telling us a story of someone breaking away from society, but an invitation to break away from society ourselves. 

Though we all interpret symbols differently, the entire poem could be viewed as a symbol itself for Mary Oliver’s own personal struggle with conformity. In the beginning of the poem Oliver speaks of ‘the voices.” These voices shouting their “bad advice” could be representing the voices of society screaming at her and the negative effects that others have had on her life. Oliver insists to ignore these voices and push forward. This can be taken differently by each reader. Some could see Oliver has having selfish thoughts by saying that you should ignore the voices asking to be mended, while others see it was the only way to truly find yourself. Later in “The Journey” Oliver says “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds,”. The stars burning though the clouds are symbolizing her new sense of individualism. This is a turning point in the story because they have finally found their own voice. Their thoughts are no longer clouded by the ideas of others and the forced views if society. Oliver has finally found the light at the end of her tunnel and through trial and tribulation has found independence. Through symbolism Oliver makes the reader go beyond surface level to understand her work and the meaning behind her poem. Each person can interpret these symbols differently, but still come out with the same general message that Mary is telling a story of someone searching for themselves. 

Imagery is a powerful tool that Oliver uses to transport us to where her poem is taking place. Towards the middle of the poem she writes “though the wind pried with its stiff fingers…”. This line gives us the physical image of hands holding someone back. What also stands out in this line is the personification. She is referring to the wind has the being which holds her back, which could be viewed as society itself. Her use of these strong statements lead us to the images of restraint and imprisonment. Later she creates an image of someone traveling down a road of broken branches and stones, a “wild night” she calls it. This creates the physical image of the journey that Oliver has been traveling along, in search of herself. The path is tarnished with debris which could stand for the bumps in the road faced when breaking out of conformity. At the beginning of the poem it is not as clear where we are and the reader can feel lost, but as the story develops we see the message more vividly, that we are being taken down a path in search of something. The image Oliver’s imagery helps develop the story of a woman seeking impendence and the tough roads that were traveled down.

The structure of Mary Oliver’s poem stands out as being unique. She writes in free verse with no rhyme, which gives the poem more of a story-like feeling. The free verse style lets Oliver write with no boundaries. She writes in very short lines which cause the reader the read very quickly through the poem. This adds a sense of urgency to the poem, like the urgency Oliver feels to break away from society. Though the poem is short and the vocabulary is generally easy to understand, you feel the need to read this poem several times to get the true meaning. She also intertwines shorter and longer lines. Oliver could be doing this to represent the ups and downs in life itself. There are also no breaks in this poem, which could parallel with the idea that there are no breaks in life itself, and we must push forward no matter how hard it is. Her style of writing contributes to the theme of individualism and helps develop the idea that we must break away from conformity to find ourselves. 

Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey” incorporates many different figurative devices that contribute to the message of her work. Her use of symbols make the reader read between the lines of her work and search for meaning where others might not find it. Imagery within this poem take us from the pages of a text and throw us into the journey that the character is facing. The vivid descriptions and use of personification develop the serious tone of the passage. Mary Oliver’s style of writing also contributes to the multiple themes and tons throughout this poem. Mary Oliver’s message is direct; in order to find yourself, you must break away from everyone else. We are left with the idea of finding our true selves after reading this poem, and Mary Oliver challenges us all to break away from the norms of society. 