Mary Oliver is best known for writing of wisdom and generosity in her poems. She is known for being a person who is close with nature and often seeks her inspiration from it and to this day continues to produce poems of great intelligence and meaning. Her poems often filled with rich imagery of scenes describing the beauty of nature. Many of the themes of her major poems are the “intersection between the human and the natural world” (Mary Oliver). The theme Oliver portrays in “The Journey”, is that every person must overcome all the people and things stopping you from reaching your goals in life. To become your own self, you must stop listening to all the people holding you back and only listen to your own voice as only you are in control of your own destiny. She develops her theme of the poem by using diction, imagery, and the poems overall tone. The poem progresses as if going along with someone’s life and as they grow up from youth to adult. It details the challenges that each person must beat while growing into their own image and how these challenges only build you up and make you stronger throughout your trip through life.

Oliver uses many different literary devices from imagery to personification to exhibit the theme through the poem. The examples of imagery in this poem mainly revolve around nature. The first example of this is where it says “and the road full of fallen / branches and stones” (“The Journey” 21,22). These two lines paint a vivid image of a road just after a storm where branches and trees have fallen and are blocking the pathway. The first incident where personification scene is where the poem goes “through the house / began to tremble” (“The Journey” 6,7). In this example, Oliver is giving the house the human qualities of trembles or to shake involuntarily. The second occurrence that I notice of personification is “though the wind pried with its stiff fingers” (“The Journey” 14,15). In these two lines, Oliver is giving wind, a non-human entity, fingers that try to reach out and stop you from continuing your trip through life.  With these examples of personification and imagery, Oliver magnifies her point she is trying the get across that people and or things will try to stop you or slow you down from reaching your goals. She puts these examples throughout the whole poem as they paint the image of distractions and remind you of the constant struggle you must overcome. 

Throughout the entire poem, you see this constant battle between you, the reader, and the “voices” or the people trying to lead you wrongly and down the path. The two main obstacles that block or try to block your way are the voices and the storm which turns the road into an obstacle course of fallen branches and stones which can correlate to everyday things that disrupt your goals. These “voices” serves as distractions that try to lead her in the wrong directions and in the case of the poem, diverts the reader and get him or her off their train of thought. “Mend my life!” (10) is an example of this disturbance by the voices. When reading that line, it doesn’t seem to fit right in the poem and makes the reader diverge their attention evidently slowing the progress of reading. Oliver does a great job of transitioning from location to location and throughout the poem, the scene of events transition from being in a house to a thunderstorm and finally after the storm where you see the sun start to peak through the clouds. The house is where you begin to grow up, the storm is where you face these difficult life choices and challenges, and lastly the sun peeking through the clouds is where you have overcome these barriers and have registered that only you are in control of your life. The voices represent all the people and possibility media that try and tell you what you can and can’t do with your own life while the storm represents the many different barriers that interfere with your everyday life. In the grand scheme of things, the way Oliver chooses to represent the struggles of every day is very smart because they can be quickly linked to things the reader experiences in his or her everyday life.

Through Oliver’s use of imagery, personification, and diction, her poem “The Journey” creates a surreal picture and theme in each reader’s mind that says that no matter what happens in your life, you are the only one controlling your life and destiny. You are what you make of it and no other person has any say so on how your own life folds out to be. With your battle with other people trying to you back and the many life obstacles you’ll face, you will soon realize that your own voice is the only one you should be listening too. The setting of this journey starts out in a house and ends up in a road after a thunderstorm. It is developed through Oliver’s vivid use of imagery to help you better understand the struggles that are being ensued. She also exemplifies it through literary devices as well as her connection with nature to develop her lesson of the poem. This poem is a prime example of Mary Oliver’s work as it includes nature where she often sought her inspiration from and it also includes a person who with wisdom of life can overcome these dark forces trying to hold them back and stir them from there pathway.
