Essay Comparing Two Poetry

There is War in Finding Oneself
There is always a war going on inside when finding oneself, and the accomplishment of finally being content with oneself sets its basis on one’s gender and age. The poems that best portray the themes of war and self are “The Journey” by Mary Oliver, “The Sacred” by Stephen Dunn, and “ Carrying a Ladder ” by Kay Ryan.
Self-identity is found to be a prominent idea throughout “Identity and Rites of Passage”. This idea also has the ability to branch off into differently structured, but similar ideas such as self-discovery, self­-awareness, self-­reliance, or self­-preservation. Focusing on the two poems “The Journey ”, and “The Sacred ”, I notice strong similarities in the themes based on the thoughts that
cross my mind while reading.
Many times in life a person will encounter people, places or things that can act as temptations or give off peer pressure.
Often times giving oneself up to this peer pressure can lead to mistakes and one can be lead down the wrong path. “ The Journey” in a way explains that one cannot let those temptations take over their mind, that everyone needs to find themselves, and find their own voice, in order to be successful. In line 35 of “The Journey” it says, “...determined to save the only life you could save.” Saving the only life one can save, one’s own, is what self­ preservation is all about. A similar theme is apparent in “The Sacred” , but this poem focuses more on where one might look to be able to truly find themselves, rather than how to do so. Finding a sacred place might be the key to finding one’s inner self. In lines 15­-18 of “ The Sacred” it says, “a car could take him from the need to speak, or to answer, the key in having a key and putting it in, and going.” The specific theme of self­ reliance is shown here in the way that everyone does not need to answer to anyone else, but only rely on themselves to get to where they need to be in life. These two poems both give the message that finding one’s true is so fulfilling and an important part of one’s life
journey.
“Carrying a Ladder” leans towards the opposite idea, giving off the impression that knowing oneself is not always a good thing. The poem speaks of the weights that most everyone holds on their shoulders. Knowing oneself means knowing what obstacles are being faced everyday, and all of the heavy thoughts being carried in one’s mind. Speaking of self can lead to the thought of war with one’s inner self. To be in war with oneself could mean there are opposing thoughts in one’s mind, a decision being debated, or simply one is not happy no matter how hard they try to be. By always carrying ladders anyone could be at war with themselves. Something could be on one’s mind constantly but there is no easy way to rid oneself of the weighing thoughts.
War can be depicted in many different ways because it can have many different meanings. In lines 3-5 of “The Journey,” two different sides of war are shown. It says “though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice.” This shows the war between oneself inside their mind, and the peer pressure that surrounds them every single day. Someone has to win, so the war goes on. This war between one’s mind and themselves is the journey that is spoken of, the journey that will eventually end in finding oneself or being overcome by the enemy.