In Mary Oliver’s poem, The Journey, she talks about getting away from the negatives in life and learning from mistakes and others bad advice. She touches on how others always want someone else to save them from their own lives but in the end the only person that can save them is themselves.

I believe that Mary Oliver’s poem is about struggling to get through life and finding a way to get away from negative things that hold people back in life, “…[Though] the wind pried / with its stiff finger / at the very foundations,” (Oliver). Oliver talks about how there will be negative people and feelings that will try to hold others back but they have to persevere and make it through the rough times. There are going to be people trying to make other people help them instead of focusing on their own goals, “… [Though] the voices around you / kept shouting… / ‘Mend my life!’ / each voice cried,” (Oliver). People must learn to take other’s advice and cries for help with a grain of salt because in the end it won’t always help them get to where they need to go or it’ll throw them off of their path. There will be so many hurdles along the way but they have to keep going and rely on themselves and eventually the voices of others will be drowned out and they will realize that they are the only one accompanying them, 

[As] you left their voices behind…

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company…

Their voice is the only voice that matters in the end and that is the only thing they’ll have at the end of their journey in life.

I believe that The Journey is about persevering and realizing that the only ones that can save themselves from failure is their self, “[Determined] to do / the only thing you could do- / determined to save / the only life you could save…” (Oliver). People have to keep themselves from failing and keep on task, though there will be many temptations and many people trying to throw them off. There will be times when others will try their hardest to ruin other’s lives and happiness to make themselves feel better about their mistakes and depression. Most people leave behind the negative and have breakthroughs, “But little by little, / as you left their voices behind, / the stars began to burn / through the sheets of clouds,” (Oliver). I believe that is what Oliver was trying to portray in her poem. Negative things and people come in and out of other’s lives, in the end none of that will matter and there will only be one thing in their life that does and that one thing is themselves.

In conclusion, Mary Oliver’s poem is about getting through life alone and learning to ignore negative energy and people. The only person that matters is them.
