The text I chose to close read is from our Carolina Reader, called, The Journey, by Mary Oliver. Oliver is famously known as a prolific writer, who also happened to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for her well known poem, American Primitive. She told an interviewer in 2014, “I consider myself kind of a reporter – one who uses words that are more like music and that have a choreography. I never think of myself as a poet; I just get up and write.” By analyzing the structure of Mary Oliver’s, The Journey, one can clearly see that the lack of stanzas, the longer and shorter lines, resulting rhythm and meaning of each sentence all contribute to the overall understanding of this poem. I think that Oliver’s intended message of this poem is that during one’s life journey, through much of the ups and downs, a person needs to learn to tune out the distractions and listen to themselves, since only they know what is the absolute best for them.

 Generally, authors will create stanzas, brief breaks in a poem, to clearly present a separate thought or idea and organize the poem. They are essentially connected thoughts that are assembled in breaks. In The Journey, Oliver uses sentences to represent separate ideas instead of stanzas. By using sentences, each one is interconnected with one another because of the lack of breaks. Without stanzas, the thoughts of each sentence stream along, describing the journey that Oliver is unfolding in this poem. Essentially, the structure of this poem plays a big role in the overall context.

In having sentences rather than stanzas, we see that is contributes to the overall message of the poem. Without stanzas and breaks throughout the poem, we can infer that each sentence is closely connected to the other prior, and then after. Each of their meanings come together to create the overall message of the piece that Oliver is portraying. In the poem, one can interpret that Oliver is talking about someone’s life journey. This relates to the fact that real life is uninterrupted, and the lack in stanzas gives is the impression that life is always ongoing and constant. One cannot simply stop living life with breaks or pauses when things get hard. With that, we know that Oliver is talking about a life journey that describes how united everything is and why one cannot physically pause their life. 

Along with the fact that a lack of stanzas represents how connected the sentences are, the way the length of the sentences are structured results in a rhythm. As Oliver has voiced, she used words that are more like music and that have a choreography. Looking at the physical aspects of the poem there appears to be a pattern; starting sentences with a few long lines, and then ending the poem with short fast lines. This pattern is representing the ‘ups and downs’ of the life this journey that Oliver is illustrating. In life, everyone experiences ups and downs, the good and bad, and the easy and hard times. I think that the longer sentences are used to represent the ups, the good and positive times, in someone’s life. The shorter sentences are used to represent the downs in one’s life which is where we see lines like, “their bad advice,” and “through their melancholy,” “was terrible”. These lines exemplify the bad, or negative, times of someone’s life. In looking at the structure of the sentences and how they fit as a whole, we can also see how they fit as individual meanings. 

By looking at the individual sentences, we see how they all fit with one another and the role they each play in the overall message. The first few lines of the first sentence start out very strong and impregnable. Oliver states, “One day you finally knew,” “what you had to do, and began”. This is an example of how the longer lines in the poem represent positive ups and downs in the piece, because after this, Oliver says, “though the voices around you,” “kept shouting,” “their bad advice”, which is the negative part in this sentence. Essentially, in this first sentence, this person’s life journey is seeming to be dictated by other people shouting their opinions and their beliefs on the speaker’s decisions. With that, the speaker leaves us with the formidable task to speak our own minds and find our own ways through life, even when society appears to speak for everyone. 

As the speaker advances in this journey, we see that they are struggling with voices and listening to cries that we can perceive as harmful and corrupt.  Oliver states, “Mend my life! each voice cried”. In every country and in every society, personally and impersonally, there is always help needed. Although these people are in dire need of help, there comes a point where a person must put themselves first for their own sake. This compels the speaker to continue on their journey, despite “their melancholy” cries for help, “was terrible.”.

In the next sentence, we see the speaker battling how to step out of the social norms of life and society. Moving on and going your own way is not always easy. There are people who will bring you down and there are things that happen that you had not planned for, hence, “the road full of fallen branches and stones.” Throughout life and in this poem, we see how there are progressive times in one’s life, and then we also see the damaging times. In this sentence, we can tell that the speaker is going through a rough time in their life journey. 

In the very last sentence of the poem, the speaker is finally able to start to move on in their life and listen to their own voice. Life will become simpler, “Little by little” as Oliver states, to leave the past behind and move forward in a beneficial direction. The next few lines, “The stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own”, is where the speaker finally has their moment of realization. These, ‘stars’, are where the speaker emerges through the sheets of clouds, the past, and breaks through the norms of society where they now are voicing their own beliefs and opinions. This voice is what has brought them throughout their journey of life and pushed them to become the best version of themselves. 

In Mary Oliver’s, The Journey, one can clearly tell that the journey she is describing, is about life. By looking mainly at the structure and individually at the lack of stanzas, the physical aspects of the longer and shorter lines, resulting rhythm and meanings of each sentence, we can see how these all relate to the general message of the poem. I think that Oliver’s intended meaning of this poem is that during one’s life journey, through much of the ups and downs, a person needs to learn to tune out disruptions in their life and listen to themselves, since only they know exactly what they want in life. 
