The Voices
The voices that the speaker talks about are symbols of her own inner negativity. Everything about this poem is metaphorical. This is important to keep in mind because some analysis of this poem insists that the imagery of “voices around you” that are shouting “bad advice” should be taken literally to implicate people external to the speaker. The very fact that the speaker is addressing herself in the second person as a separate “you” should be enough to indicate that these voices are definitely not external.
“The Whole House”
The reference to “the whole house” which begins to tremble is also not intended literally, but rather as a symbol of the speaker. This is not a poem about a person actually deciding to leave the toxic environment of a house filled with people. The speaker is the house and the “whole” refers to all those different inner voices telling her things that are not enhancing her self-image.
The Road
The road that is littered with branches and rocks is the symbolic difficult pathway of the speaker’s journey, and that journey only commences after a tempestuous confrontation with the self. That it is not a literal road can be difficult to understand, however, because it is described using very literal imagery. The key to understanding the symbolism is personal experience. The reader is encouraged to think of those rare occasions when they have literally had to navigate around fallen branches or rocks. This situation is typically encountered only after a storm. Symbolically speaking, that is precisely the situation here as well. The speaker is headed on her journey after a building up of pressure and anxiety has exploded in a storm of emotional awareness coming into conflict with a desire for change.
The Stars and Clouds
Clouds symbolize the foggy uncertainty of a sudden change in course while the star symbolizes the navigational guidance that comes with self-confidence that one has chosen the right path. The clouds are described as a “sheet” through which the light of the star “burns.” This is equivalent to illuminating one’s way down a dangerously foggy road using a flashlight or the headlights of a car.
The Journey
The title journey itself is entirely symbolic of changing the circumstances of one’s self-identity and self-image. The title of the poem is integral because it indicates the symbolic status of the content of the poem. The narrative is about a journey, clearly, but it is only as one makes their way through the pathway the speaker sets out for them that it becomes clear the journey does not take place in space, but exists entirely within the speaker’s mind.
