In today’s world, we live in a society that constantly encourages people to be themselves, but also criticizes anyone who is. The poem “The Journey” by Mary Oliver, is about one going from being a conformist to society and following the general idea of what everyone else does, to instead being an independent person with a voice of their own. Along with that, it is about the journey it takes to get to that independent self and how it may be a tough road with people trying to stop one along the way, but leaving those voices behind and rather listening to your own voice is the key to breaking away from that common habit of conforming.

One word that is noticed to be mentioned a good bit in this poem is “voices”. In the first stanza of the poem, Mary Oliver says, “One day you finally knew / what you had to do, and began, / though the voices around you / kept shouting their bad advice” (1-5). This is said to show that even when someone knows internally that they must change as a person, there are always people on the outside who will still try to hold them back. Nowadays, the majority of people hate to see others succeed, usually just for reasons of pure jealousy. These kinds of people will do just about anything or say just about anything in order to make other people believe the opposite of what is good for them, and in the end try to deter them from the goal they are wanting to reach. Another instance that “voices” is said in this poem is, “But little by little, / as you left their voices behind, / the stars began to burn / through the sheets of clouds (23-26)”. This is said to show that during one’s journey of going from someone who conforms to society to one who is an individual, the key to doing that successfully is leaving behind those voices who are                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       constantly trying to hold them back. If one does not do that and instead falls into listening to the wrong voices, they will make absolutely no progress. However, if one does do that, the world becomes brighter and more clear, which is where the description of the burning stars comes into play. The last time “voices” was said in this poem was, “and there was a new voice / which you slowly / recognized as your own, / that kept you company / as you strode deeper and deeper / into the world, / determined to do / the only thing you could do- / determined to save / the only life you could save (27-36)”. This is how the poem ends and it is there to represent how one finally starts listening to the voice of their own rather than the voices of other people, which ultimately helps them break free from the chains of conformity and be that individual that they have been working to become for so long.

Another thing noticed in this poem is the rhythm of the sentences. The way the poem is written makes it seem very choppy to me. It could be read as a normal story, had the sentences not been split up like they were. All of the sentences stopped in random places and were moved to the next line. In this way, the reading of the poem itself becomes a journey, and that experience helps emphasize the message Oliver is trying to convey. However, for me, as a reader, the abnormal rhythm of the poem made it harder for me to follow along, and in the end it made it harder for me to understand what exactly was being conveyed. For example, Mary Oliver says, “But you didn’t stop. / You knew what you had to do, / though the wind pried / with its stiff fingers / at the very foundations, / through their melancholy / was terrible”. That stanza was one of the hardest to read for me just because of the way the sentences were broken up. I had to keep stopping and re-reading because I wasn’t understanding what was happening or why it was being written the way that it was. After taking out the breaks and constructing it into normal sentences in my head, it was easier for me to understand the text and the message that was being conveyed along with it, which is to not give up no matter what is holding you back. 

The last thing I noticed in this poem that really stuck out to me is the repetitive use of the word “though”. Before the word is mentioned each time, there is usually something said about how one is being held back, and then after the word is mentioned there is something said that shows how one has to push through whatever obstacle is being given, or vice versa. For example, “You knew what you had to do, / though the wind pried / with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, / though their melancholy / was terrible” (13-17). This shows again that even if someone knows they have to break free from conformity, there will still be plenty of things on the outside trying to stop them along the way. Another example was, “One day you finally knew / what you had to do, and began, / though the voices around you / kept shouting / their bad advice-- / though the whole house began to tremble / and you felt the old tug / at your ankles” (1-9). Both of these examples are given to show the repetitive use of the word “though” and how it is used within the text to prove that despite the people trying to hold one back, they know their end goal even if the journey to get there isn’t easy.

In the end, this poem has a lot going on that makes it a lot more confusing than it should be or even needs to be. The theme that I got from this poem is to never let anyone hold you back no matter what you are doing, and to never give up when you are trying to reach a certain goal. Mary Oliver conveys this theme through “The Journey” by the repetitive use of certain words, the overall way the poem is structured, and the overall language that is used throughout the poem as well, making all of these aspects add up to portray one’s difficult journey of being freed from the chains of conformity.
