The poem is a monologue, the apt form for introspection. It is a metaphysical poem with the recurring motif of ‘journey’  that Atwood explores in other works like Surfacing.

The interior referred to here is the psyche of the poetess. The poetess utilizes an extended metaphor here: The poetess’s inner exploration stretches out to the journeying of the mountain. The use of the words “similarities” (line 1) and “differences” (line 20) exemplifies contrast and allows the reader to make connections between the physical world and internal realm, and bridge the gap between connotation and denotation.

As one delves deeper into the mind, it stretches out into various directions –incomprehensible and inscrutable. A person with a firm faith can embark on the discovery of the self, and survive unscathed in the process. For outsiders, the human mind is as limited as a two-dimensional picture “flat as a wall.” The hills from the distance seem “welded together”. But from near, the opening between them into breaks into vast prairies. Furthermore, it does not imply that the interior landscape or mind is uniformly fertile. It has its share of barren swamps that are capable of producing “spindly trees.” The “cliff is not known as rough except by the hand.” The world supposes that only tangible objects exist in this world.…