Mary Oliver utilizes repetition throughout her poem “The Journey” as an extremely effective way of helping the reader decipher the deeper meaning of the poem each time she uses this literary device. The word voice is used several times throughout “The Journey” and has a unique purpose each time it’s used. Oliver was very careful in picking the title of the poem. The entire poem is about how a certain inner voice helps us through the difficult journey of life by never leaving us and serving as our guide through the various obstacles we encounter. 

Oliver uses the word voice throughout “The Journey” in many different situations to show an individual’s journey through life. The first instance when voice is used is in the third line of the poem when Oliver says “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice- though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles.” (The Carolina Reader 92) The word voice is used here to describe the voices of society, and the many people involved in our lives. Voice is used in a negative connotation here. These voices do nothing but shout bad advice and attempt to steer the reader on the wrong path in life. When Oliver says “the voices around you kept shouting bad advice” (92) she is giving an example of how there will always be people who criticize the reader and attempt to make the reader feel uncomfortable with their self. In this same line of the poem Oliver says “the voices around you” (92). These are not only individuals but also could represent society as a whole. Individuals will attempt to make the reader feel like if you are not just like everyone else in society, the reader is odd or different. Oliver is saying that we must rely on our inner conscious to ignore these voices, and excel through life. She is challenging the reader to be their own person and find their own voice on the journey through life.

The next instance when Oliver uses voice she is describing a person’s mindset when they are preparing to make the journey through life. In the beginning of the quote Oliver mentions “one day you finally knew what you had to do” (92). In this context she means a person finally made up their mind that in order to continue on their journey of life they are going to ignore these voices and the bullies of society and be their own person, staying true to who they are, listening to their voice, their conscious. Their conscious is the only voice that can save them from becoming hurt and distracted by these dangerous voices. When Oliver talks about the “house beginning to tremble” (92), she means how people can get worrisome and scared when things begin to go wrong in society and when people give them issues. Oliver challenges the reader to find their inner voice to keep them from getting lost, and navigating them to stay on track in their journey. This inner voice is their conscious, which will keep them company throughout the journey. If the reader’s house starts trembling, they would naturally become scared because of the easy feeling of becoming lost in the shaking house, which she is implying a person would be in this situation. Then Oliver says “and you felt the tug at your ankles” (92). In a time of fear, people will begin to take you down or drag you down into the same coward, frightened state as them. In times like these, Mary Oliver says “But you didn’t stop” (92). She is explaining that people should trust their self and listen to their conscious, not other people’s disturbances. 

The next time Oliver uses the word voice she says “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop.” (92) Here, the word voice is used negatively again but it’s a different kind of use. Voice describes the constant calls out of people who need help throughout the reader’s life. These voices are distractions, asking the reader to help repair their lives. In the next couple lines Mary Oliver mentions how “the road is full of fallen branches and stones in the road” (92). This means that there will be several obstacles as the reader continues on their journey in his or her life. These branches and stones symbolize the many difficulties and hardships people will run into on their journey. Mary Oliver was very delicate with her word choice here. Branches and stones are negative words that are used as hindrances in this context. The sensory images of stones and branches provoke a sense of fear and loneliness, combined with the constant voices calling out for help are all symbols of the various hindrances the reader will encounter on their road through life. Oliver is reminding us that no matter how daunting the task in front of us is, the voice of our hearts will be there with us to push us through the situation. 

After the reader experiences the voices calling out, Oliver says “But you didn’t stop” (92). She is showing that the reader has begun to mature and was able to continue on their path in life, building up tolerance to block out these desperate calls. In society, there will always be people asking for assistance or care, but during the journey of life there is always something that tells the reader to push on, despite their calls for help. When Oliver says “you knew what you had to do” (92) it is apparent that the reader’s conscious helped block out these calls, and told the reader to continue on. By now the reader should be able to tell that the journey throughout life is anything but easy, but if they listen to their heart, they will have a guide to take them through the hardships. 

Up until this point in the poem, voice has been used with a negative connotation of people trying to drag the reader down or hinder them so far in the poem. Oliver does this to give the readers the feeling of heaviness and being helpless in times of trouble and that they’re all alone. In the third and final use of the word voice, Oliver transforms the word into a positive meaning. 

 The next time the word voice is used by Mary Oliver she says, “But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do- determined to save the only life you could save” (92). When voice is mentioned in the first part of the quote, it is the last time in the entire poem that it will be used negatively. Oliver is explaining that as the reader progresses through life, they leave the negative voices of distraction and criticism that were dragging them down, behind. The poem has a change in tone from negative and hazy to positive and clear when Oliver says “the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice that we slowly recognize as our own” (92). The tone is a sudden epiphany that can be described as surge of knowledge overcoming previous hesitation in life. The choice of words by Oliver such as stars, burn, and new almost makes it seem heaven-like in the way a person’s vison of life and their conscious becomes so much clearer.  This excellent use of imagery by Oliver is showing that a realization is beginning to overcome the clouds that already existed there, and that these are the unsure thoughts the reader once had that worried and instilled fear in them. The clouds are the thought that people should be like everyone else in society, that the reader is weird if they don’t follow everyone else. The burning light is the reader’s conscious. This is evident because the audience was lost due to the clouds that existed before, but now that the burning light has come through the clouds and become his or her true navigator through life. 

The reader’s conscious has helped them through the many hardships they already faced in life, and the same voice is ready to lead them through the rest of their journey through life. The reader goes through a realization that the voice that has been with them all along has aided them and provided them with comfort through all the difficult times so far. This voice, their conscious, and the voice of their hearts has always pushed the audience to keep moving in life and served as their guide. The quote also mentions that their conscious has been “determined to save the only life you could save” (92). This means that the audience’s conscious has always been aware that if they focus is on saving other people’s lives too much, they could soon forget about their own and start to get off path on their own journey through life. This is why in the beginning of the poem, when Oliver said “but you didn’t stop” (92) she was acknowledging that the reader’s conscious is the only voice that can keep them strong enough to block out other people’s calls of desperation, and to keep moving towards success in life. The voice in the audience’s hearts saved them throughout the poem’s journey of life, and set them up on a strong minded, prosperous path for the rest of their life.

Mary Oliver uses the word voice in several different ways throughout the poem “The Journey”. The first two times voice is used, it is a negative form that describes how people can shout bad advice and criticism at us as well as when people delay our journey in life by asking for us to stop and help repair themselves and their lives. In the last line of the poem, Oliver uses voice twice, once negative and then finally positive for the first time. The reason she uses it negative first is to show that the reader must leave behind those voices of distraction and sadness. When voice is used positively, it symbolizes that a voice rejecting a series of negative thoughts, and helping the reader develop an identity in order to become a strong, independent individual that can continue on through the journey of life. This voice is the reader’s conscious and it has been with them throughout their journey through life, and will lead them through the rest of it. This voice was our rock through the hardships and troubles we endured throughout life. Mary Oliver used numerous literary devices throughout “The Journey” to show how voices affect the audience’s lives, and emphasizes towards the end of the poem that the most important voice in their lives is their conscious, which is the reader’s crucial guide throughout life.  