The Journey - Mary Oliver

Question 1

Themes? (2)

Answer 1

Longing, Reminiscing,

Question 2

Tones? (2)

Answer 2

Melancholic, Nostalgic

Question 3

Context? (3)

Answer 3

• Mary Oliver was born in Ohio in 1935.
• She grew up in an abusive home and would often retreat to the nearby woods, where she would build huts of sticks and grass and write poems.
• When she left home, she never
  returned.

Question 4

Meaning and purpose? (2)

Answer 4

• The Journey” is about someone who is learning to trust themselves and focus on their own well-being.
• The “journey” of the poem’s title refers to the speaker’s decision to leave the bad advice and
  demands of other people behind, and to follow their own instincts instead—that is, to forge their own path in life.

Question 5

Language? (4)

Answer 5

• Symbolism of stars to suggest that at the end of the struggle, and with resilience, there will be hope. When the stars begin “to burn / through the sheets of clouds,” then, this represents the speaker finding a
  sense of clarity and direction. The
  clouds—themselves a symbol of
  confusion, become less powerful
• Personification of the wind being
  “melancholy[ic]” voices- could suggest
  that you have to keep on going despite the cries for help- later it is revealed that this voice is “your own”
• Extended metaphor of our life plan being like a house which can be “trembled” by the advice of others; your own internal monologue is compared to the “wind” which “pried with its stiff fingers” the foundations of your life’s journey; life is also compared to venturing out in the middle of a storm to suggest that life’s journey is unknown, dangerous and full of obstacles
• The assonance of /oo/ sound evokes
  both the echoing shouts of the people around the speaker and the speaker’s own determination

Question 6

Form? (2)

Answer 6

• end-stopped lines 10-12. Most of the lines before this moment were
  enjambed, and the sudden slew of
  end-stops (which actually starts in line 9, after “ankles”) dramatically slows the poem down. The poem’s form thus reflects the “tug” at the speaker’s ankles, the way that these voices try to prevent the speaker’s progress
• The anaphora and parallelism of lines 14 and 17 (“though the wind,”
  “though their melancholy”) once again emphasize the speaker’s
  determination. As in the beginning of
  the poem, this repetition shows
  readers that the speaker is set on
  moving forward despite the many,
  many obstacles in their way.

Question 7

Structure? (2)

Answer 7

• The poem is a long free verse
• The repetition of “You knew what you had to do” in line 13 echoes the
  sentiment expressed in the first two
  lines of the poem. This repetition
  underscores the fact that the speaker
  is confident in their convictions and
  determined to break free from this
  stifling situation.