Life is like a journey. People may sometimes get lost because of uncertain direction or wrong road sign. Thus, they are hesitant to select the way. As a result, they are always driven by external factors instead of what their hearts really want. Here comes the question: Should people follow others, or find their own ways? For solution, Mary Oliver, a famous American poet who won Pulitzer Prize in 1984, shows us her extraordinary understanding.

As an outstanding poet who are good at describing nature, Mary Oliver has a personal background that makes her who she becomes. She used to give up degree in university and finally devoted to writing all her life. We can’t image how difficult it was for a young woman to make such decision at that time but there is no doubt that she succeed. She approves that it is viable for people to find and live their own way. 

“The Journey” is a poem originally written by Mary Oliver in 1986. Although the title consists of the word “journey”, in fact, there is nothing related to a real journey throughout the work. After finishing reading the poem the puzzle is: “What is the journey and where will people go?” By doing close reading the main idea of the poem finally appears that the “journey” actually reflects “life”. To be more specific, as Oliver wrote in her work: “Mend my life” (line 10). It’s obvious that this sentence shows a strong desire of writer and it also serves as the most important clue in the poem. People who are created in this poem go through a lot in the nature and finally realized what they really want. They make an attempt to change their life just like they are making plans for a long journey. In other word, life has its beginning and destination and people may have a variety of experience during this period. Many readers regard their life as a journey so the “journey” is a common identification of some people.

The poet writes the poem just like she is having a conversation with readers. For example, “you” is the most common call in the poem. In this way, people who read this work may not just consider the content but also themselves and that is how this poem works. The “journey” not just serve as a shadow of Oliver’s past life. It also shows readers some truths of life. That is, to know themselves and find their own ways just like what the poet did. After reading the poem, many readers will feel inspired and begin to think how to “Mend their life”.

Mary Oliver is very good at showing the magic of words. She hides a lot of metaphor on those words and uses them skillfully. In other words, most of those words have double meaning and they are used in a way that many normal writers won’t adopt. It’s important to note that those special words she uses in the poem contribute a lot. For instance, Oliver writes: “though the voices around you/keep shouting/their bad advice” (line3-5). In this stanza, the shouting voice reflects a force, a force that makes people change their mind to follow it. For readers, this can be difficulties in life or expectations from parents, boss and friends. “and you feel the old tug/at your ankle” (line8-9), old tug; stands for bonds, the bonds that force people to live the life that they do not really want. In addition, in the stanza “though the wind pried/with its stiff finger/at the very foundation” (lines14-15), the wind is given human quality.  Notice that the writer uses “pried” here. This word describes an ongoing movement but hasn’t finished. According to the context, readers can easily feel that the main character in the poem is having a hard time for decision. Many of them may even think of themselves because they have or used to have the same hard time. Besides these, as Oliver writes in her work: “the stars begin to burn/through the sheets of clouds/and there was a new voice/which you slowly/recognized as your own/that keep your company” (lines25-30). Readers are shown a splendid scene which stands for success. The word “new voice” here also reflects a kind of self-identification: People finally realize how important it is to find their own way. When reading the stanza, audiences naturally begin to think of those possible fragrance they lost due to the reason that they can’t live and act as what they really want.

“Determine to do/the only thing you could do-/determined to save/the only life you could save” (lines33-36) finally shows reader the main point of the poem. When reading the ending stanza, people who are living a life that they feel is restrictive may consider the question: “Do I really want to keep that way I am living? Is there any change needed?” This is how the poem works.  Many poets try their best to inspire readers who may have the same question as them. Noticed that most sentences Oliver uses are simple since all of them are in active voice. Besides that, the poet writes the poem mostly using second person “you” to emphasizes that “your” personal idea plays an important part in life. A poem is not a simple writing, on the contrary, it demands the poet to focus more on the main idea.

As Oliver writes: “It was already late/enough, and a wild night, /and the road full of fallen/branches and stones” (lines19-22). People may always face all kinds of dilemma in lifetime and those difficulties are just like the fallen, branches and stones. To those who want to mend their life, maybe the intuition from their heart is the best choice.
