Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey”, is a narrative on the many obstacles one must overcome in order to forge their own path. The way the poem is written makes the reader the subject of the poem because everyone must overcome an obstacle of some form in their life. “The Journey” illustrates the very real struggles everyone must go through to discover something in their life, whether it is their own destiny or their self-worth. Oliver’s poem states that the journey of life is difficult, but she knows that everyone must go through it. Although not stated within the lines of the poem, Oliver hints that the journey of life is a person’s own journey to discover themselves.
The first stanza of Oliver’s poem begins with a realization the reader comes
…show more content…
Oliver begins this stanza by writing “little by little…you left their voices behind”, showing the reader’s transformation from someone who relied on the voices of others to someone who now relies on themselves. In the later lines she writes, “there was a new voice, / which you slowly / recognized as your own”, showing that the reader finally discovered their own voice throughout their journey. With the reader finding their own voice, they can now rely on themselves and have no need for the voices and other impediments that appeared in the first two stanzas. The new voice “kept [the reader] company” during the journey, showing that their own voice will always be there to support them, making them more independent. The reader’s newly found voice also keeps them company as they continue “deeper and deeper / into the world”. At this point in the poem, the reader has pushed past all of the obstacles and voices and finally realizes that they are worth more than others have made them think they were. Now that the reader has finally found themselves, they can “save / the only life you could save” ---their own, finally reaching the conclusion that their mission has been accomplished. Oliver’s conclusion of the poem signifies all of the actions one must take on their own personal journey, masterfully illustrating the obstacles and the final triumph the reader experiences throughout its
"Crossing the Swamp," a poem by Mary Oliver, confesses a struggle through "pathless, seamless, peerless mud" to a triumphant solitary victory in a "breathing palace of leaves. " Oliver's affair with the "black, slack earthsoup" is demonstrated as she faces her long coming combat against herself. Throughout this free verse poem, the wild spirit of the author is sensed in this flexible writing style. While Oliver's indecisiveness is obvious throughout the text, it is physically obvious in the shape of the poem itself.
The main character in the narrative had ceased to find meaning in his work. He undertook a spiritual journey consisting of successes and failures over a long period of time, leading him to find meaning in his work. His story provided insight into how to help others during their difficult times. First, it is important to assist the individual in identifying the reason for their struggle.
A journey is a movement from one place to another; it can be intellectual, emotional or physical in nature. An examination of the texts ‘Of Mice and Men’ by John Steinbeck and the film ‘Pleasantville’ by Gary Ross will explore how challenges and obstacles are integral to the journey of life and note the opportunities that may come from these responses. Particular emphasis will be given to how the characters deal with these characters and the way the composer represents these journeys. Loneliness is a challenge that faces characters in both the narrative and film. In ‘Pleasantville’ David is immediately established in the opening shot as alone and alienated.
(1) This tells the reader that not everyone is perfect, using simplistic diction. Oliver tells how we all have sorrow with the line, “Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.” (6) The poem uses conventional word order. When the author says, “Meanwhile the world goes on.”
poem (lines 1-12). The author began with such a vivid description to create the tone through the rest of his poem, a tone of fear and regret. Nonetheless it only gets more intese as the poem continues to describe the teenagers desperate actions to try and get rid of his problems. One sees towards the end Jon Loomis ’s idea that teenagers are irresponsible and do not want to deal with their own mistakes.
Through the poem’s tone, metaphors used, and symbols expressed the poem portrays that fear can make life seem charred or obsolete, but in reality life propels through all seasons and obstacles it faces. The poem begins with a tone of conversation, but as it progresses the tone changes to a form of fear and secretiveness. The beginning and ending line “we tell
In her poem, “Crossing the Swamp,” Mary Oliver uses vivid diction, symbolism, and a tonal shift to illustrate the speaker’s struggle and triumph while trekking through the swamp; by demonstrating the speaker’s endeavors and eventual victory over nature, Oliver conveys the beauty of the triumph over life’s obstacles, developing the theme of the necessity of struggle to experience success. Oliver uses descriptive diction throughout her poem to vividly display the obstacles presented by the swamp to the reader, creating a dreary, almost hopeless mood that will greatly contrast the optimistic tone towards the end of the piece. While describing the thicket of swamp, Oliver uses world like “dense,” “dark,” and “belching,” equating the swamp to “slack earthsoup.” This diction develops Oliver’s dark and depressing tone, conveying the hopelessness the speaker feels at this point in his journey due to the obstacles within the swamp. As the speaker eventually overcomes these obstacles, he begins to use words like “sprout,” and “bud,” alluding to new begins and bright futures.
Furthermore, the narrator, living in the silent voice, the narrator’s consciousness becomes stronger as the narrator finds her own peace and eventually can be laid to rest. Thus, Kincaid uses the narrator to show the complexity of one consciousness undergoes to find one’s
In the first stanza, we can already see how this poem can relate to the world today and how we feel about certain things. We as humans don't like change. Sometimes, we want something to happen so bad, that we don't consider how our life might change if this wish, this hope of something, actually happened. We sometimes may want something so bad, but fear what the consequences might be if something goes
I have chosen the poem titled Oxygen by Mary Oliver, found on page 373 in the Meyer text for first analysis. This poem is essential about someone who is seriously ill, however, the tone is rather appreciative and hopeful. In line 5-6, the individual–might be the author herself– kneels by the fire, and this may connect to the fuel that is keeping her partner alive. The burning logs correlates to the life within her partner, that as long as they burn, he will be kept alive. The oxygen fuels the fire burning and also keeps her man alive; however, he is ill and “in his usual position, leaning on his shoulder.”
This poem begins immediately
I have interpreted these lines in one way, yet there are a million different possibilities. The author puts the words onto the paper, but the reader’s job is to interpret their own emotion, memory or belief and actually apply it to the poet’s words in order to create an
Oliver starts the poem by calling her audience, “you” and pulling them in to listen. The poem does a great job of convincing the reader of their true worth by comparing the lives of troubled people to the simple lives of geese; Mary Oliver makes the reader feel like their problems are not as big. She forces the reader to realize that life goes on around them whether they choose to see it or be enraptured in their
In the final stanza, Nye believes that empathy for others’ sorrows is a prerequisite to kindness with the poem lines, “Before you know kindness
However, after reading the first stanza, it is evident to the reader that, there is oppression in the air. The first stanza reads that, “Dawn in New York has four columns of mire and a hurricane of black pigeons splashing in the putrid waters,” and this is clear to the reader that, the New York Dawn is not a normal dawn and that life in New York is despondent. According to the writer, the dawn does not come with something to smile about. After reading the poem, we realize the writer’s reason for entitling it as such.