Within Woolf's narrative, the heron is actually a symbol for the lost soul that exists within the writer but also within us. We all get that feeling at some point in life that we don’t know what life is really about and what the true meaning and purpose behind all of that which we’re seeing in front of our eyes. The writer is trying to convey that being lost is a feeling that you’ll have whether you’re living in the Urban areas or the rural ones and regardless of which age you’re living in, modern or old. The writer is also suggesting that when you take this kind of journey, you seem to know at the beginning what you’re looking for and what you want, but you end up more lost than before.
In the first part of the story, the heron seems to check things out from way high in the sky, but as he’s trying to understand more and investigate more, he flies lower and closer to the earth which doesn’t at all help with his confusion no matter how close he gets, to the point that he reached a level where he can see indoors in the final parts of the story.
The bird starts to view things from way high, and what he can see so far is a lake and a mountain which makes sense a bit due to the distance. But the writer is mentioning that he’s seeing also from that level the church. But it also the first thing that the heron saw in his journey. This is a sign that the starting point in all such journeys is the religious perspective, at least in that point in time. He saw a multitude of things in his journey. He saw also a variety of people from all walks of life; he saw how severely fluctuating the lives of the people are and how different people’s lives are from each other All of which doesn’t help with his confusion and makes understanding the truth about life far-fetched.
At the end of that story is a scene by the fireside. Those who are sitting by it are probably the heron, which is a symbol of the lost soul, and the human being who owns that soul. Virginia is presenting here a sort of inner conflict between them. The human being is telling his soul to let go of that excessive contemplating that seems to have numerous disadvantages and that’s increasing the confusion more and more. He’s asking his soul to appreciate what they already have in life and not to take it for granted. But his soul or the bird apparently refuses his advice and continue sinking in the same circle of lostness; the heron goes back to flying around in the sky.
