Authors most often write in a way that relates to the lives of their expected audience and the well-known American poet, Mary Oliver, is no different. Just as the title suggests, this poem is about written about an “expedition (Dictionary).” Mary Oliver is  offering a Bildungsroman poem that explores many themes that provide ambition for her future of her audience, discovery of oneself, and an escape from the pressures of society. Throughout her poem titled, “The Journey,” she uses a combination of choice words, syntax, rhythm and repetition to convey her greater message to her audience of becoming oneself in the midst of society. 

Throughout the entirety of the poem the author selects specific words to convey the themes of her poem to the reader. In “The Journey,” rather than using words that most readers would skim past the author uses words to evoke emotions within the readers. In the first stanza of the poem, instead of saying, “the voices are speaking” she uses, “the voices around you kept shouting (Oliver 3-4).” Her stylistic use of words allows the reader to feel the weight of the words while reading them. When describing the effects of “bad advice” from the world, the author says, “the house began to tremble (Oliver 7),” compared to “the house began to shake.” “Tremble” is a less common word and thus it sticks out in the reader's mind while reading. This particular word affects the reader similar to the way an onomatopoeia would, creating a sound in the sentence. The word choice Mary Oliver uses throughout the poem helps to develop confidence in her audience and makes the reader pace themselves to be able to apply her actions in order to truly be themselves within this world.

The combination of word choice and the structure in which the sentences are arranged is used throughout “The Journey” in order to provide ambition to the reader, and thus, inspire a self-discovery. The author uses short simple sentences in addition to longer sentences to help pace the reader and arrange an emphasis on stronger lines of text such as, "but you didn't stop"(Oliver 12). Throughout the poem the author also adds dialogue such as, “Mend my life (Oliver 10)!” into the rhythm of the poem. The dialogue interrupts the reader and dramatizes the text because it paces the reader as the voice in their head changes to read the dialogue. The author’s sentence structure allows readers to read the text at the appropriate speed, which allows the weight of the text to relate to the pressures from the world when people are asking for help through their own journey. Her use of word choice and structure is used in a way that conveys the importance of escaping the pressures this society in order to discover the desires within oneself.

In addition to the structure of the poem, Mary Oliver also uses repetition to ensure the greater message of self discovery is conveyed to the reader. In this particular poem, the author uses repetition through an anaphora in the beginning of the first two stanzas to encourage the reader. She repeats, “ you knew what you had to do (Oliver 1-2, 13).” Her use of this repetition instills confidence in the reader and reassures them that despite the pressures of society, the reader has the strength to escape the societal pressures and discover themselves. The author also uses repetition in the third stanza with, “little by little (Oliver 22)” and with, “deeper and deeper (Oliver 30).” Rather than encouraging the reader, this repetition serves to connect the poem back to the title. Just as a journey “usually [takes] a rather long time (Dictionary),“Little by little (Oliver 22)” suggests that a self discovery will not come easy. Later on in the stanza when the author uses “deeper and deeper (Oliver 30)”she is alluding back to the bildungsroman theme that this discovery of one self will come with time.

The author inspires the audience to discover themselves throughout “The Journey", also known as life.  She uses imagery to illustrate the lives of the audience and  relate it back to what they are going through. One illustration she uses is comparing life to a “a road full of fallen branches and stones (Oliver 20-21).” This image makes “The Journey” realistic to all audiences, rather than offering one obstacle that life may bring, Mary Oliver addresses that this life will be filled with many trials. She also associates with the reader's, understanding that there will be many reasons to give up throughout life. She illustrates the reasons to give up as “sheets of clouds (Oliver 25).”  The author provides inspiration to the reader through saying,  “the stars [dreams or goals of the reader] will burn through the sheets of clouds (Oliver 24-25),” This illustration conveys the greater message that despite the many reasons to give up, the readers can live out their greatest dream.

“The Journey” is written to all audiences to inspire them to live out their own life, despite the many people who will try to stop them, and despite the many obstacles they may have to overcome.  In order to convey Mary Oliver's greater message, the author provides ambition to her audience, supports the need for self-discovery and encourages the reader to escape the pressures of society. The author uses the combination of words and their structure to pace the reader, which in return, evokes emotions in the readers that inspire a self discovery. Through her word choice, syntax, repetition, and use of imagery the author successfully conveys the importance of living for oneself and motivates the audience to save their own life before it is too late.
