Throughout Mary Oliver’s poem “The Journey” we can see that she outlines a path to self discovery in a very motivational sense. When most individuals think of poems they think of irrelevant writings that have no meaning. “The Journey” strays very far from that stereotype. Both Self Discovery and success are something us humans thrive to achieve. The reason her writings are so intriguing is because they each have a very powerful message. This one in particular lists out the journey each person will go through to ultimately obtain your own individuality. Through the use of Motivation, Rhetorical Devices, and second person point of view, Mary Oliver convinces the reader to follow their heart in the “Journey” of their life.

As we all are brought up in this world, we are faced with the terrifying fear of not being good enough. Whether it is playing a sport as a young child, or even unfolding ourselves as we grow to an adult, we constantly compare ourselves to others no matter what it is that we do. To obtain success, most of us believe that we must go down the path that has already been created. Throughout the poem “The Journey”, Mary Oliver reminds us that it is not the used path that will direct you to success, however it is the new path that has not yet been taken that will make you thrive in life. She makes a point to start the poem out with “One day you finally knew what you had to do,” (1-2). She begins this way to really grab the attention of the audience. This immediately gives the reader motivation from the start, it insures them that one day everything will click and they will discover who they really are and their meaning behind life. She continues on saying “You knew what you had to do” (13) which lets people realize that you know exactly how to succeed your whole life, but many choose to listen to others only to result in their failure. Life is going to be tough and quite the journey but she motivates us by revealing you ultimately determine your own destiny. However, eventually there needs to be a point where you find your inner self and use that to the best of your ability to succeed in life. Our society makes it very hard to listen to our own conscious. From the moment we begin to learn they teach us to praise others who have already become successful, whether it is celebrities for adults or superheroes for children. We all at one point have thought of being someone else.

Oliver also connects with her readers through a technique called direct address by writing the poem in second person. She refers to each of us as “you” so it can feel as if the poem is being directed right at us. This method hits the people harder because it changes the way your mind works when you read it. In this poem an excessive amount of “you” are placed which gets readers more intrigued in the writing. From the very beginning you can see this, she states “One day you finally knew what you had to do” (1). The main thing everyone will notice about the writer is that she emotionally connects with each and every reader based on her word choice. Everyone can emotionally relate to this poem because everyone is going through the “Journey” of life.

Mary Oliver uses many rhetorical devices throughout the poem to convey to the reader a meaning which will persuade them to obtain self discovery. The syntax of this poem seems to be normal but has very simple sentences with yet complex meanings behind them. The sentences in this poem are quite similar to how life is. It changes from short and choppy, to long and flowing throughout the whole poem. It changes back and forth constantly. By doing this the writer makes the theme behind the poem so much more understandable. Our life is going to be choppy at times and fast at others. The reader appreciates writings so much more if they can realize how much more complex it is than it actually seems. She begins by introducing to us in lines 3-5 “the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice”. Throughout the course of everyone’s life bad advice will be shouted from others around you. Our society tries to conform each individual into the same exact person. She stated “Mend my life! Each voice cried.” (10-11). This is said to let us realize how desperate others are for change. People all around will constantly try to bring you down and convince you to mend their lives. If you give in, the only life that will be mended is your own, and for the worse. Oliver also encourages us not to stop for others by writing the poem with very few stops. She does this to illustrate how life is one big journey that is on going forever. If we stop and try to mend anyone’s life but our own it will lead to our downfall. Personification is used to make the readers imagination go wild. By stating “Though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations” (14-16), she gives us a vivid description of how life will try to destroy the very foundations of your success. She also informs us that our life will be full of many obstacles by saying “and the road full of fallen branches and stones” (21-22). It is not impossible to cross a road that is full of fallen branches and stones, we only need to learn ways to get around the obstacles. “Little by little” (23) we all will learn to cancel out the voices of others only to hear our own. She concludes by stating “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own” (25-29). This lets us recognize that everything will fall into place. The burning star represents our “self discovery” and the sheets of clouds are used to represent the obstacles and bad advice we have received throughout our life.

As we all are brought up in this world, we are faced with the terrifying fear of not being good enough. Whether it is playing a sport as a young child, or even unfolding ourselves as we grow to an adult, we constantly compare ourselves to others no matter what it is that we do. Once we all cancel out the thought of being conformed to this “perfect person” in our society, we will become more successful and content with ourselves. As we “strode deeper and deeper into the world” (31-32), we will slowly but surely find both success and our inner selves. Other individual’s voices will destroy us; it is that reason that we will have to learn to listen to our own. In the end, it will be our own voice that will ultimately “save us”.