The Journey was written by Mary Oliver and has an overall theme of overcoming negative thoughts. The antagonist in this poem had many voices inside of his head that were mostly comprised of negative influences. In the poem the person composed himself and overcame negative thoughts in his life by listening to his conscience. It can be inferred that the word "voice" portrays the theme throughout this poem because of the context it was used in and the number of times it was placed in the text. The word "voice" was used several times throughout the text to symbolize the various feelings the man was having throughout the poem.

In The Journey the word “voice” was repeated several times throughout the text. The first usage of the word “voice” related the voice to his heart and mind. By using the visualization of the “whole house” the author was referring to the person’s mind. In this context, we can see that this is a negative voice because his heart and mind are telling him to mend his life.  It is interesting that after the man heard the voices in his head telling him to kill himself the voices became louder which made him become unstable and question his life choices.  But the second time the word voice was used it was in a positive tone, which was saying, “mend my life!”. His conscience is saying even though the things in his life are not going well and are probably depressing his life is still worthwhile and can be put back together.

The third repetition of the word “voices” is more sentimental and tuning his thoughts into his heart and emotions. He decided to put his heart and mind aside and look at the bigger picture and not listen to them. He decided to listen to his conscience. When the author wrote “it was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones” she could be using this imagery to say that his life was already a mess. The man decided to listen to his conscience and ignore what his heart and mind was telling him to do. As the poem continued it referenced that he was going to let the positive come and shine through the negativity that was going on in his life.

The final time that the voice was referenced was described as a "New Voice" and is referring to his conscience. The man realized that he had control over the voices and he had to make the right decision and listen to his conscience which saved his life. Throughout the poem the word voice was repeated and referred to in different ways. In the beginning the man was listening to the voice which was his heart and mind but later in the poem he listened to his conscience. It was important for the author to allow the voices to take the man through the situations in his life and realize that he could have control over the voices. This would allow him to see all of the positives rather than the negatives. He found a way to block out the voices in his heart and mind and allowed himself to only hear his conscience. This was the most important voice to listen to and by doing so he was "determined to save the only life you could save". 

Another word that stuck out to me in the poem was "melancholy". According to dictionary.com the correct definition for melancholy is, "a gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged; depression." The word melancholy caught my attention because of the way it is being used in the poem, to portray the negativity in the man's life. As I was reading the poem "melancholy" really flowed with the main idea of the text. The author did a really good job inserting melancholy in the middle of the passage and it stands out because it is the most complicated word in the passage with a strong meaning.

The rhythm of this passage is short but also smooth because of the way it flows from line to line. Even though the lines are short they are not choppy and it draws the reader in keeping their attention. The lines didn’t seem choppy because the author made the words and thought process from line to line very well. Because the sentences are short and simple the reader will not be bogged down by long lines and sophisticated words. The style of this poem is straight forward because of the explicit word usage in the poem and the flow of the poem doesn’t make the reader second guess what they are reading.

The type of writing that is in this poem is a dialogue because the man is arguing with himself using his conscience and mind/heart. He is having a dialogue with himself because he is arguing weather to mend his life because of the problems he is having in it or to listen to the little voice in his head which is his conscience. The author worded the text as if he man was on his last limbs and the little voice helped him overcome the negativity that the man was feeling. His conscience won the argument and the mind decided to ignore what his heart and mind was telling him and it determined him to save his own life

Throughout the passage the reader encounters unusual punctuation with the different commas and period. It had a lot of commas and periods which could be dramatic pauses that the reader views while reading the poem. The poem is kind of dark also because of the way the poem was punctuated that were used in the poem. The punctuations made the reader pause and really think about the point the author is trying to make. 

Mary Oliver's poem The Journey was filled with the emotions of a man who was obviously struggling with his life and wanted to mend it. She used a lot of word structures to make the reader feel what the man was going through using the different punctuations and the way she had the man arguing with himself using his mind, heart, and conscience. This was a well written poem that flowed well and helped the reader understand the man’s conscience thoughts.  