Finding a path through life can be an easy challenge for some, and a nearly impossible task for others. Since this is such a common issue, many artists, writers, and authors try to tackle the topic of finding oneself in different ways. Mary Oliver made this the theme of her poem, “The Journey”. In it, she uses environmental imagery to convey the protagonist’s tumultuous, so-called journey through life.

Environmental imagery is something that’s highly relatable to anyone, as it’s a poignant part of daily life. First and foremost, Oliver utilizes images that have to do with the sky. After the protagonist breaks free from the toxic life they’re leaving behind, they move into a world that is dark and full of unknowns. This is emphasized by Oliver in terms of the scenery. The protagonist enters into a “late” and “wild night” (19-20), with everything in chaos. When one thinks of a wild night, a storm comes to mind. This symbolizes and helps to connect to the reader how difficult and frightening it can be to move on to a new chapter in one’s life. Before you can have the rainbow, you’ve got to sit through the rain.

This struggle is continued as the narrator of the poem describes how the “stars began to burn” (25), as the storm begins to clear and everything falls into place. However, the connotations of burning still aren’t historically good ones. Burning usually symbolizes something being destroyed violently, or an immense passion that’s borderline painful. The former is the most likely scenario here, as the protagonist is ridding themselves of everything that they thought they knew, and coming into their own. This still describes a violent turn of their life, but still one for the better.

The author’s use of woodsy imagery in parts of the poem was also an effective tool in communicating the theme of the poem. The narrator describes a road that is “full of fallen branches and stones” (21-22). The fact that the branches aren’t connected to the trees is what’s interesting here. Typically when branches are used in storytelling, they’re used as a cover or a source of confusion, i.e. Snow White running through the dark forest in the Walt Disney animated movie. The fact that the branches aren’t connected to the trees, but rather on their own and in the way of the protagonist illustrates just how much damage this ‘storm’ has wrought, and how much darkness and confusion now lies in the way of the protagonist’s path towards fulfillment. 

When thinking about the environment and the natural world that surrounds humanity at all times, it’s hard not to think of weather. It is something that heavily affects day to day life. Oliver utilized this throughout the poem. Towards the beginning of the poem, the narrator mentions how the house would “tremble” (7), which represents an earthquake. Earthquakes are natural disasters and therefore are perceived negatively. This helps the reader to picture the volatile and damaging environment that the protagonist is leaving behind. The protagonist does this even though what lies ahead isn’t immediately pleasant either. The “wind pried with its stiff fingers” (14-15) as the protagonist tried to leave, and yet they kept pressing on. Harsh wind is generally related to storms, and when there are strong enough winds, the sheer force is capable of keeping someone trying to press forward completely stationary. This is the kind of imagery which Oliver is trying to evoke in the audience, in order to truly get a feel for what the protagonist is going through, even though it’s metaphorical.

As the protagonist continues this struggle through the path throughout life that they are building for themselves, as stated before, the imagery begins to grow broader and more serene, even though the ‘journey’ is still not finished by the end of the poem. The protagonist begins to go “deeper and deeper into the world” (31-32), which gives a general sense of not being able to turn back. The deeper that someone goes into a forest, the less likely they are to find their way out again. As the protagonist is finding themselves, they’re losing what was left behind, and now have gone too far to turn back. This is a clear use of imagery to connect the idea of the poem to the reader. “World” here is also a very broad term, as it covers, well, the entire world, and there is a lot in the world. When Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, he ‘discovered’ the New World. Going into a world has an extensive connotation of exploration and discovery. This discovery could be internal for the protagonist of the poem, as well as external. They are finding out about themselves in the same way that they are finding out about the world around them and what it has to offer. 

It is because of these instances that it is clear that Mary Oliver is trying to relate a metaphorical ‘journey’ to find oneself into a very real one for the reader. Through extensive use of environmental imagery, she is able to translate this difficult experience into something easy to understand for a reader who may not know exactly how grueling it can be to move away from what you know and finally come into your own. Oliver drives home that no matter how difficult moving on can be, it still has to be done. Throughout the poem, through use of vast sensory words and imagery, she takes the reader on a journey to realize that they, too, need to save their own lives. 