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The Inner Voice In Mary Oliver's Journey

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In the journey written by Mary Oliver, she writes about the journey one has to take in order to become more aware of who they are as individuals. In order to find themselves, the reader must break away from society's control over their actions and instead find their own inner voice. The speaker in the journey reveals, symbolism, mood, tone, style, and repetition, enjambment, and dictation to captivate the readers. From the beginning of the journey, the speaker introduces us to the sudden realization, that the moment we find our own inner voice, is the exact moment we will know true bliss. However, the speaker wants the readers to act fast, so the speaker constructs the poem to illustrate her message without having to put into words by rushing …show more content…

For example, “though”. The speaker's use of “though” is used to represent the voices of societies constant attempt to consume the individual. “though” is used 4 times throughout the poem all before mentioning a barrier. “though”, is short for although, most of the time though is used before something positive. in result, the speaker’s use of “though” before a barrier so that the reader knows that something positive will come as a result of facing these obstacles. Throughout the entire poem, the constant repetition of “do” is to instruct the reader to find their inner voice and it’s simply something they must “do”. The repetition in line 23 of “little by little”, is used so the reader knows that in order to be successful in the attempt of finding their inner voice, one must have patience. The repetition of line 31 In “ As you strode deeper and deeper into the world”, is used to tell the reader that they will venture to a place not many have been before. The repetition in lines 34 -36 with “ determined”,“only”, and ”save” is used to emphasize the importance of the last line. The speaker does the use of metaphor in “ though the house began to tremble” to communicate the struggles in life, and how it overwhelms the individual to the extent of feeling as if the world is falling apart. The speaker also uses the metaphor of “ and you felt the old tug at your ankles” also to communicate the struggles in life, but implying that bad habits such as “ the voices of other” may try to find their way back into the individual's life to make the individual lose their balance and knock them off of their

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