ecial in-between realm of the poem. Yes, the poet recognizes, "the ladder is always there," just as the deeper reality of a person's life is always there, but how often do we climb up or down it, how often do we look into that unknown.
The poem is the result of a crisis in which the poet has been forced to climb down the ladder into herself, into her soul,. The specifics of the crisis are insignificant, whether divorce, sickness unto death, writing a paper.
What is crucial is the decision the poet makes which leads her to climb down into herself not merely to find out what is there, but to liberate herself from her illusions and delusions about life and death and self, and to emerge finally liberated from the "myths" she has been sold all
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