Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey,” simplifies the idea of determination into a small, short poem. This poem states how one’s mind can control their actions and shows how the mind can keep us from being as successful as we are capable of being. Oliver explains how the mind will tell you to quit, but we are capable of pushing our limits and ignoring the voice in our head telling us to give up.  Oliver also shows that we can only be responsible for ourselves, because we only have control over the body we are in. Due to Oliver’s use of lineation, and the diction produced throughout “The Journey,” the readers can easily view the points Oliver aims to make about how us as individuals have full control over who we are capable of becoming.

The lineation, or breaks that can be seen throughout this poem, is used in such a way to truly force the reader to view “The Journey” in the way that Mary Oliver wanted the readers to view the poem. An example of the lineation in “The Journey” can be seen in lines 5-7 where it states, “their bad advice---/ through the whole house/ began to tremble.” Due to these pauses throughout the poem, we as readers are forced to take a second to pause and truly comprehend the words stated in the poem, and the meaning behind them, better than we normally would. The dashes after ‘advice’ creates the readers to remember that others are not in control of us, they bring us down and we have the power to avoid them. Also, in lines 32-34, it states, “determined to do/ the only thing you could do--- determined to save/ the only life you could save.” This lineation pauses our reading for a moment, helping us realize that Oliver is stating that the only life we can save, is our own. These breaks in the poem truly help us readers comprehend the poem to its full extent.

The diction shown in the writing of “The Journey” was done in such a way that it is professional, meaningful, and easy to understand. Oliver assured to use common words throughout the poem, keeping in mind this is a poem about taking care of one’s own self health using determination. Since this poem is intended to be able to influence people of all ages, it was written in such a way that it is appropriate for a ten-year-old or a seventy-year-old. Due to the vocabulary used throughout the poem, it creates a very easy read. The poem starts off by stating, “One day you finally knew/ what you had to do, and began, /. This type of vocabulary is carried throughout the poem, creating a fluent and appropriate poem for everyone to enjoy and learn from. With the writing in this poem, it can be easily noticed that Oliver only wrote one line of dialogue down in this poem, and I believe that was a smart idea. “’Mend my life!’” is all that is used, and this truly helps the quote stick out to the reader. Since not much dialogue is used, we tend to attract our attention to these quotes and process this information better than we would if more dialogue was used.

“The Journey" is easy for everyone to relate to. It shows things that every human goes through. When we ignore the voices in our head that are telling us to do unproductive things, we will progress in life. On the other note, we should listen to our minds when they are pushing us to be greater. This poem shows that we have control over one person in this world, ourselves. The way that each individual line is short can easily help the reader read through the poem with ease, while subconsciously understanding the meaning behind each word a little easier, due to the frequent pauses. Each line is around three to four words, helping us read slower to truly digest the powerful words Oliver put together delicately. The short words can be seen in lines 10-12 where it states, “’Mend my life!’/ each voice cried. / But you didn’t stop.” Due to short lines containing only a few words each, this truly improves the writing style behind Oliver’s poem, forcing the reader to comprehend the reading.

“The Journey” does a fantastic job at truly getting in depth into how our minds work. For example, take a look at lines 1-5. “One day you finally knew/ what you had to do, and began, / though the voices around you/ kept shouting/ their bad advice--.” Although it seems that the lines are talking about people discouraging us, it is actually more in depth than that. It is about the voices in our head telling us to give up.  We have the ability to ignore the voices and proceed to be a better us. Like in lines 12 and 13, “But you didn’t stop. / You knew what you had to do,” Oliver explains that although the discouragement, we have been capable of pushing our personal limits and achieving new goals.

Overall, in Mary Oliver’s “The Journey,” we can see that the poem was intelligently written using different styles of writing that many other authors and poets do not use in every day writings. This helps us view this poem with a strong, powerful stance and creates the poem to take impact on us. This poem truly shows that everyone has the same issues with their minds. The poet helps us realize that life is not always the easiest, and our successfulness is determined by our own actions. All of us can get caught off track or become lazy. With determination, we can make anything happen.
