Finding Ourselves In Mary Oliver's Poem 'The Journey'

The Long Rode To Finding Ourselves The process of finding one’s self among voices all around can often be a journey. In her poem “The Journey,” Mary Oliver describes this lengthy journey. The speaker in this poem is a person who is observing someone trying to find his or her own voice in the world. All the voices this person hears, are not his or her own. The voices keep badgering the person to solve their problems and fix their lives. Amid all this, the person must find out what really matters in life. What is really the most important? Fixing others lives or finding one’s own life. At first glance we all might catch ourselves choosing to fix all those people around us. Our challenges get pushed to the back of our minds when we don’t have

In the poem the word “you” or “your,” is used fifteen times. The words “their” is only used three times. The fact that this small word, “you”, is used so often throughout the entire poem, draws much attention. The word “you” in this poem is used to refer to the person trying to find his or her identity. The word “their” is referring to the voices of the people this one person is trying to overcome. These people have a huge influence but this word, to indicate their presence, is only used just a few times. Even though these people have enormous influence if we let them, in the long run, we are the ones that choose our own destiny. The entire poem is referring to just the one person. The one person is the only one that can decide what path he or she is going to take. The last words of the poem are often the most important. “determined/ to do the only thing you could do, / determined to save the only life you could save.” The person was very persistent but in the end, it pays off. The person decided to make his or own destiny. He or she was able to realize that this decision isn’t anybody else’s choice to make. The reward is life changing. The person in the poem isn’t just able to save a life he or she was able to save his or her own

Mary Oliver says, “But little by little, as you left their voices behind.” The process of finding one’s identity can be long and it can be slow. The word “little” indicates that only a small amount of voices is left behind at a time. Maybe the person only overcame one or two voices at a time, but the poem repeats the word, “little” twice. This means that this person does not give up. The person is only strong enough to go slowly. Although he or she is only going slowly the speaker does not indicate there is any problem with this. The persistence that came from overcoming road blocks made her strong enough to continue, even with only small improvements. Eventually the person can make enough improvements that they are able to overcome trials and find themselves. When overcoming trials, a person tends to get a new vision of him or herself. This vision comes “little by little” but it is very rewarding. The decision gives a person identity and