The Journey

“The Journey” by Mary Oliver was published in her 1986 collection Dream Work—a more personal collection than many of her other books. She published at least six collections of poetry before Dream Work, starting in 1963. “The Journey” came somewhat early in Oliver’s career, as she published over 20 more books of poetry after Dream Work until 2017. Oliver’s writing is influenced by poets such as Walt Whitman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Percy Shelley, John Keats, and Rumi. She draws on the Romantic tradition of poetry by focusing on the power of nature and introspection. Oliver is inspired by the nature of the places where she lived, especially Ohio and Massachusetts.

“The Journey” is a free verse poem that explores the themes of Following Internal Knowledge, Escaping Other People’s Chaos, and Movement Between Artifice and Nature. Oliver uses celestial, meteorological, and domestic symbolism.

Poet Biography

Mary Oliver was born in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1935. In her youth, she spent time living in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s house in New York and working with the poet on Millay’s papers. While Oliver never completed a degree, she attended both Ohio State University and Vassar College. Oliver and her partner Molly Malone Cook lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for over 40 years. After Molly’s death, Oliver lived in Hobe Sound, Florida, until her own death in 2019. She kept much of her personal life a secret from the public.

Oliver taught at Bennington College, and had a very successful literary career. She published over 15 collections of poetry. Her first poetry collection, No Voyage and Other Poems came out in 1965. Her 1983 collection, American Primitive, won the Pulitzer Prize, and her 1992 collection, New and Selected Poems, won the National Book award. Her early poetry focuses on the natural world, including the woods of Ohio and the landscape of Massachusetts. Her later poems become more personal. Scholars argue that her work can be compared to the work of the 19th-century Romantic poets.

Oliver also published nonfiction books, including a guide to writing poetry, A Poetry Handbook, which came out in 1994, and a collection of essays titled Long Life, which came out in 2004. She won other awards, such as an American Academy of Arts & Letters Award and the Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Prize. Oliver was awarded fellowships by the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Poem Text

Oliver, Mary. “The Journey.” 1986. The University of New Mexico.

Summary

The poem opens with the speaker describing a person—“you” (Line 1)—who discovered their purpose after a long period of searching, and so began the journey toward this purpose. The speaker reveals that your discovery was made despite being given unsound advice by multiple people. These people, their voices, and a trembling house are the things you overcame (despite their tugging at your ankles) to discover your purpose.

Although the feeling of people demanding your attention was familiar, you kept going on your journey toward your purpose, even when others cried out that they wanted you to stay and fix their lives. You did not turn back; you understood the actions required on the path toward this purpose.

The speaker describes the obstacles you faced: a strong wind with fingers trying to open up the foundations of the house you left behind; the pull of the horrible sorrow of others; the nighttime, untamed path covered with rocks and tree branches. Gradually, the speaker reveals, you traveled beyond other people’s voices and found the stars behind the clouds.

Inspired by this sight, you gradually found your own voice. It was a companion as you kept travelling to pursue your purpose, the only possible choice. The speaker reveals you became committed to completing this singular action: You had to “save / the only life that you could save (Lines 35-36).