“The Journey” by Mary Oliver talks about the challenges that the narrator must overcome as she progresses through her “journey”. Oliver writes about the impact of other people in the narrator’s life and how they were holding back the narrator. Oliver displays a central theme of “accepting change” when she writes about the “journey” that the narrator takes part in. To illustrate this theme better Oliver utilizes multiple elements but the most prominent one was her choice of repetition that allowed for her to emphasize a more dreary and intense tone. Repetition allows Oliver to reinforce the words or phrases that are the most important for readers to notice and she’s uses it throughout the entire poem. By looking at “The Journey” by Mary Oliver, one can notice how Oliver uses figurative language to illustrate the theme of “accepting change” to readers by showing how the narrator overcomes the obstacles and challenges she is faced with.

Throughout the course of “The Journey” Oliver writes about the journey that the narrator goes on where she encounters different obstacles and challenges as she progresses through the journey. During the journey the theme that the narrator “accepting change” is present as she progresses with her journey. To express this theme more effectively Oliver chooses to utilize repetition of words and phrases that highlight how other people caused challenges that the narrator had to deal with. For example, Oliver writes ““Mend my life!” each voice cried” (Oliver 11-12). This is one of the first challenges that the narrator has encountered on her journey and it revolves around having to help others, which is evident by how “each voice cried” to the narrator for assistance. Oliver uses lines 11-12 to show how the narrator is being held back by other people and the best solution for the narrator to overcome the obstacle would be to change the way that she thinks of other people. In addition, Oliver also writes about how following other people could lead someone down the wrong path, she goes on to write “though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice” (Oliver 4-6). Oliver includes two examples in the beginning of the poem where the narrator is preoccupied with following other people. She also chooses to include how the voices kept “shouting their bad advice” which leads viewers to realize that the voices were providing challenges for the narrator on the journey. By repeating two different examples of other people hindering the narrators journey it allows for Oliver to establish the theme of “accepting change”. By establishing this theme early on it allows for Oliver to show how the narrator’s attitude changes as the poem progresses as she overcomes the obstacles she faces.

In addition to using repetition to highlight the impact of outside people on the narrator, Oliver also uses repetition to show how the tone of the poem changes as the narrator progresses throughout her journey. In the beginning of the poem, Oliver focused on how other people were holding back the narrator by repeating different instances where others impacted the narrator. However, as the poem progresses Oliver chooses to repeat words and phrases that focus on only the narrator. For example, Oliver writes “and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own” (Oliver 29-31). By focusing on the voice that was “recognized as your own” it allows for Oliver to show that the narrator overcame the obstacles by changing to help herself, instead of being held down by others. Oliver also mentions that it “was a new voice,” which shows how the narrator had been following a different lifestyle prior, until she “changed” and learned to follow her own voice. In addition, Oliver repeats the word “you” throughout the entire poem, which results in Oliver being able to emphasize how the poem is about the narrator and how she “changes” and learns to focus on herself. In the last two lines of the poem Oliver writes “determined to save the only life that you could save” (Oliver 38-40). Oliver chooses to end the poem by saying that the narrator “could save” only one life, her own. By ending the poem like this it allows for Oliver to emphasize the theme of “accepting change” by showing how the narrator overcame every challenge she faced. 

Repetition was an essential element during the poem as it allowed for Oliver to emphasize the theme of “don’t be afraid to change” to readers. By using repetition at the beginning, it let Oliver establish a negative tone, whereas towards the end of the poem repetition allows for her to show how “learning to change” allowed for the narrator to overcome the obstacles. Moreover, Oliver repeats the negative impact that other people had on the narrator at the beginning of the poem since it allows for her to show how the narrator changes over the course of her “journey”. To show the change more effectively Oliver used repetition again at the end of the poem, except this time she repeated more positive phrases that involved only the narrator’s life. By showing the different tone the poem had at the beginning and end by using repetition it allows for the narrator to more effectively illustrate the theme of “don’t be afraid of change.

After looking at “The Journey” by Mary Oliver it was evident how the narrator was being held back at the beginning of the poem by other people, however towards the end of the poem she changes and learns how to focus on herself. Oliver includes the theme of “don’t be afraid of change” and this theme is present throughout the entire poem. By showing the differences in tone from the beginning and end of the poem through repetition it allows for Oliver to show how the theme easier. Once the narrator “changes” and adapts she finally completes her “journey”. Oliver effectively uses repetition in the poem to emphasize the theme by showing the differences once the narrator learned to “change” to overcome the obstacles she faced.
