In the poem “The Journey” Mary Oliver shows a vulnerability that many people feel but are afraid to show, making the reader empathize with the speaker about the mental and physical struggles she goes through as the poem progresses. The speaker’s fear of breaking conformity is portrayed through the images of storms and debris on the path of life as she strides closer and closer to freedom. Oliver uses natural imagery and harsh language to depict her personal battle between conformity and independence.

Oliver’s use of natural imagery in “The Journey” reverts back to a sense of rawness and realness of being on your own for the first time. The poem starts off with the speaker being in a house (6). This image of a house to most is one of comfort, friends and family. However, this fort of familiarity is being invaded by voices that are trying to tear the speaker apart by “shouting their bad advice” (4-5). These voices seem to overpower the speaker, because the house that was supposed to represent safety is now beginning to be torn down as “the whole house began to tremble” (6-7). Oliver uses this image of a house trembling to show that these voices are so powerful, that even something as strong as a house cannot protect her from the army trying to coax her out of safety and fix every single one of their issues.

The poem also uses dark imagery to enhance that feeling of rawness of being in a new situation. The speaker says “It was already late enough, and a wild night” (19-20). At night, nature becomes more ominous, and things that seem trifling during the day, are magnified. By using the image of “A wild night” (20), the speaker indicates that her surroundings  and thoughts are both wild and stormy. She had just chosen to walk away from all the voices crying out to her to help them (10-12) and is on her own for the first time. 

Oliver continues to use natural imagery throughout the poem, such as: “the road full of fallen branches and stones” (20-21). These fallen branches and stones on the path represent the people who have tried to hurt the speaker in the past and those who are still trying to get her to end her journey. However, as she “strode deeper and deeper into the world” (31-32) the voices started to fade and “there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own” (26-28) and she found comfort in herself and realized that she did not have to listen to anyone else’s voice other than her own. Oliver does not only use natural imagery to convey her journey, but she also uses harsh language to show how she truly felt like it was her against the world. 

In “The Journey”, the speaker is struggling to break away from all those calling out who need her and becoming independent. Oliver uses language that makes these voices that are shouting (4) and crying out to her (11) seem like demons that she can never get rid of. She also replaces words in common sayings to put a spin on the context. When she writes about when “the stars began to burn” (25), instead of writing about the stars shining, she is giving the stars a stronger image because something burning is usually something brighter than something shinning. This line comes at an important part of the poem, where the tone starts to change around lines 23 and 24 when she writes “But little by little, as you left their voices behind”, showing that along with the stars, her old life is burning away as well as all the negativity that came with it. By ridding herself of her past, the speaker is creating a blank slate that allows her to rebuild herself into being the independent person she has always wanted to be. 

Throughout the poem, Oliver writes of her struggle between helping everyone before helping herself, and breaking away, becoming independent and walking her own path. The unwritten context of the poem, derived from the lines “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began” (1-2) shows that before the start of the poem, the speaker had always gone through life putting others before herself and constantly helping those voices that she claims are “crying to mend their lives” (10-11). However, the speaker then realizes that she has to choose herself for once in her life and start the journey of discovering herself. The first eleven lines of the poem are about the speaker wanting to break away from conformity and those who are trying to hold her back. The harsh language she uses feels like the voices are angrier at her then they are in need of her help. This first part of the poem depicts the hardest part of any journey: the beginning. The speaker just decided to break away for the first time, and already she has these voices pushing her down and telling her no.  Even though they try to make her stay, she decides to build up the courage to leave once and for all. The next ten lines talk about her journey through the night. The voices are still there with her, trying to get her to turn around, convincing her that she is going to fail. This particular part of the poem is where Oliver uses dark imagery to make the reader feel how ominous and lonely being on one’s own for the first time can really be. Even though the voices are still telling her to stop, she has made up her mind and is determined to continue on her path, no matter how many before her have walked. The last fourteen lines of the poem are about the speaker finally being far away enough for the voices to fade away so she can start to see the end goal of independence. This last part of the poem shows how the speaker is now the independent person she wanted to be at the beginning of the poem, and she realizes that being independent does not mean being lonely, it is the satisfaction being able to live on your own: “there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company” (27-29). The final stage of the poem shows the speaker’s hard work and how going on this journey has led to her one desire to be free.

Mary Oliver is a profound poet who understands the hardships of choosing between putting others first, or yourself first. By using different thematic techniques, Oliver is able to clearly lead the reader through the three steps of independence: the stage of realizing the need to leave, the stage of doubt and fear, and the stage of freedom. Oliver was courageous enough to know when to step away and become free, which many people do not have the means or motive to do. By using natural imagery and harsh language, Oliver is able to depict her personal battle between conformity and independence and how her need for independence overpowered all the negativity surrounding her.
