The Journey
By Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voice behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life that you could save.

About the Poem

“The Journey” by Mary Oliver is a poem that focuses on the need to leave behind what is bad and wrong and harmful and start out on a new path. It has become a popular poem for those seeking guidance and strength in their lives. Oliver is best known for her poems on nature. So, “The Journey” is different from most of her poems in that it is more involved with the life of a person who is struggling to find meaning in a relationship and with themselves. The references to the natural world are few and distant – this poem is about the necessity for change, leaving one dark situation and finding another that is more positive. This person who, one day, finally knew what they had to do, is someone who is coming in from the cold, into the light from the dark, re-joining the world of the whole, finding their own voice, no longer a broken individual.

The journey tells of a person who has waited a long time for this day to arrive when they are about to start on a journey out of the dark past and into a brighter future. Despite those voices from any number of people trying to drag them back, giving their “bad advice” as loudly as they could, the poet had made up their mind out of necessity. Note the use of the house which is a symbol of the self, how it was made to tremble, that is, how close this person came to completely collapsing. It’s not a home but an empty person. And the voices are powerful because they represent negative energy, old patterns that this person had to break out of.

In a repeat of the opening line, the speaker clearly declares determinedly that “you know what you had to do.” There is no looking back, no stopping, no chance of holding onto that past life. However, the wind is still at you, trying to destroy and undermine you. The person set off in the day but now it is night and chaos still might rule. This is the chaotic energy of the past still attempting to stop the new progress and end this journey voices are not enough to cause a halt. The poem tells us that we cannot cling to the past, we cannot afford to dwell on what has gone.

In the final dozen lines of the poem, the transition is nearly complete, ready for the next phase. Stars are visible once again, but the cloud cover is not strong enough to diminish their light. Stars, what the old navigators used, now you can use. The voice that had been drowned out by those negative false calls for help is renewed. And it is strong, and it is yours alone.

The emphasis is on coming back into the world following what has been a challenging, chaotic, and terrifying experience. To be able to listen again to that inner voice of wisdom and truth, a sort of companion throughout the ordeal. At the last moment, in the nick of time, before it was too late, the speaker (the person, ‘you’) began the journey and overcame the obstacles both real and imagined.

About the Poet

Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is inspired by nature rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild. It is characterized by a sincere wonderment at the impact of natural imagery conveyed in unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared to be the country’s best-selling poet.