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Journey to the interior, Study notes of Poetry

Kannur University Poetry

Study notes for MA ENGLISH , Margaret Atwood's Poem

Typology: Study notes

2022/2023

Uploaded on 07/11/2024

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Journey to the interior is written in the form of an extended metaphor for

Margaret Atwood’s entangled journey into her mental world. The mind, a

complex and seemingly inaccessible region, Is shaded by a wide array of

thoughts and surrounded by the hilly regions of the unknown. Yes, it is too

dangerous For a person to roam there without assistance. In this poem,

Atwood Talks about her regular journey into her mind in order to seek food

for poetic thoughts or creative pursuits. Somehow, she tries to keep her head

during the journey or she will be lost forever. It begins with the description of

a hilly region that seems flat from a distance. when the poetic persona gets

closer to it she finds a passage through the hills as endless as the prairies.

There’s a Cliff stopping the speaker from progressing further. During her

travels, she has faced a lot of challenges. The location of this region is not

easily accessible. an inexperienced mind can get lost due to the lack of

reliable maps for guidance. Furthermore, the speaker thinks she regularly

travels in a circle without discovering any further places. for this reason it

becomes difficult for her to keep her head she can get lost in that dangerous

region more easily than in other landscapes.

THEMES

This poem taps on the themes of the inaccessibility and mystery of the

human mind and self discovery. turn off the poem, Atwood Details her travel

to the unknown regions of her mind by using several metaphors. she

describes the mind as a hilly landscape with no access point. the more she

visits there the more she becomes entangled in the web. Finally, when she

understands the complexities of the mind, she warns the readers not to

follow her path. it might cause someone to lose his or her mind. in this way,

Atwood depicts how in accessible and mysteriously beautiful the human

mind is.

another important theme of this piece is self discovery. Atwood, being a

veteran of creative pursuit, is well versed in dealing with her mind. She

knows the nooks and corners of her minds alleyways. if anyone needs some

help, she is always there to help. her knowledge of her own self, as well as

her mind, gets reflected in this poem.

Journey to the interior as a metaphysical poem

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Journey to the interior is written in the form of an extended metaphor for Margaret Atwood’s entangled journey into her mental world. The mind, a complex and seemingly inaccessible region, Is shaded by a wide array of thoughts and surrounded by the hilly regions of the unknown. Yes, it is too dangerous For a person to roam there without assistance. In this poem, Atwood Talks about her regular journey into her mind in order to seek food for poetic thoughts or creative pursuits. Somehow, she tries to keep her head during the journey or she will be lost forever. It begins with the description of a hilly region that seems flat from a distance. when the poetic persona gets closer to it she finds a passage through the hills as endless as the prairies. There’s a Cliff stopping the speaker from progressing further. During her travels, she has faced a lot of challenges. The location of this region is not easily accessible. an inexperienced mind can get lost due to the lack of reliable maps for guidance. Furthermore, the speaker thinks she regularly travels in a circle without discovering any further places. for this reason it becomes difficult for her to keep her head she can get lost in that dangerous region more easily than in other landscapes. THEMES This poem taps on the themes of the inaccessibility and mystery of the human mind and self discovery. turn off the poem, Atwood Details her travel to the unknown regions of her mind by using several metaphors. she describes the mind as a hilly landscape with no access point. the more she visits there the more she becomes entangled in the web. Finally, when she understands the complexities of the mind, she warns the readers not to follow her path. it might cause someone to lose his or her mind. in this way, Atwood depicts how in accessible and mysteriously beautiful the human mind is. another important theme of this piece is self discovery. Atwood, being a veteran of creative pursuit, is well versed in dealing with her mind. She knows the nooks and corners of her minds alleyways. if anyone needs some help, she is always there to help. her knowledge of her own self, as well as her mind, gets reflected in this poem.  Journey to the interior as a metaphysical poem

the title of the poem contains a metaphysical conceit for the poet's journey into her mind. Margaret Atwood, one of the greatest Canadian poets, compares her mind to real landscape. She points out the similarities and disparities between them in order to give readers a holistic idea of the human mind. the poet projects herself as an experienced traveller and shares her experience with the readers. Kurt description is so vivid and trustworthy that readers can easily imagine a perilous landscape, closely resembling the intricacies of the mind. due to the far fetched comparison between 2 distinct ideas, it is an ideal example of metaphysical poetry.in this way Atwood gives a form to formless Description to the indescribable. LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS “ There are similarities I notice: that the hills Which the eyes make flat as a wall, welded Together, open as I move To let me through; become Endless as prairies; that the trees Grow spindly, have their roots Often in swamps; that this is a poor country; That a cliff is not known As rough except by hand, and is Therefore inaccessible. Mostly That travel is not the easy going ” Atwood’s journey to the interior begins with a number of similarities That she can find between her mind and a physical landscape. She notices the hills that seem flat as a wall and welded together. This two dimensional image blocks her sight to look at what is behind it. It fuels her curiosity to discover what lies on the other side.

At all times, she has to use the same process. Furthermore, she tells her audience that her description of the journey mentioned in the previous lines is the only zones she explored. Apart from that, she has not discovered any new regions. Thus, she cannot tell further about it.

“ There are differences

of course: the lack of reliable charts;

more important, the distraction of small details:

your shoe among the brambles under the chair

where it shouldn’t be; lucent

white mushrooms and a paring knife

on the kitchen table; a sentence

crossing my path, sodden as a fallen log

I’m sure I passed yesterday ”

In the next stanza, Atwood talks about the differences. According to her poetic persona, the unavailability of reliable charts and most importantly the distracting small details are the sole differences between her mind and a real landscape. In the physical world, there are maps of every explored region. They were created a long time ago and were edited and rectified with time. Therefore, those charts are somehow reliable. In the case of a mind’s map, it is next to impossible to chalk out specific routes as every person has different mental experience is so each map is unique. Suddenly, the poet digresses from the topic and give readers a glimpse of her home. She is sitting in a chair and her shoe is among the brambles. Interestingly, the ‘brambles’ is a symbolic reference to the attachment of the

poet to reality. While she sets out for her journey these ‘brambles’ (her family or mundane acts) hold her back. Furthermore, she knows her kitchen where readers can find ‘lucent white mushrooms’ and ‘a paring knife’s on the table. These items remind her of her day to day activities. So, there references are also connected with the idea of ' brambles '. When she starts to think again regarding a sentence of her new poem, it takes her again to that imaginary world. She visualizes the sentence as a sodden log that she passed yesterday. Here, she describes the lines or associated idea as ‘sodden’. She was thinking about it yesterday and gave it too much thought. So, now it seems like a saturated log.

“ (have I been

walking in circles again?)

but mostly the danger:

many have been here, but only

some have returned safely. ”

In the next part of journey to the interior Atwood asks a rhetorical question to herself. She asks whether she has been walking in circles again after thinking about the sentence she was engrossed with yesterday. In the following line, she talks about the danger of visiting the mind’s realm. Many have been there but only a few have managed to return safely. Here, 'safely’ is used in the sense of a sound mental state. It is unsafe for lots of reasons. “ A compass is useless; also Trying to take directions From the movements of the sun, Which are erratic;