This poem has been said to mirror the journey of Emily Dickinson as she attempted to diagnose her own mental instability. The persona echoes a person who is attempting to fathom her own state of mind.
Dickinson was a manic depressive, she suffered from seasonal mood disorders and general mental illness from a young age as a result of a number of deaths of friends and family members. Her struggle with psychological illness is mirrored here and within many of her other poems.