The speaker addresses an unknown individual directly using the second person by asserting that this person knew what had to be done and had begun doing it. This unidentified thing that needed to be done had been commenced despite the fact that there were voices all around shouting out unhelpful advice.
The speaker then begins describing how this loud cacophony of voices reached such a level that the entire house began to shake. It is at this this point that it starts to become obviously the poem is intended to be highly symbolic rather than taken literally. This assumption seems confirmed by the speaker reminding the other person how they felt someone grabbing them around the ankles and crying out “Mend my life!” This imagery tests the limits of one’s acceptance that what is being described is literal due to the sheer absurdity and improbability of what is being described.
The speaker continues addressing the unknown person by acknowledging that despite feeling the tug at the ankles, and the noise of the voices, and the cries of help they remained committed to doing that thing that had to be done. That thing remains unidentified, but the reader does learn that this “you” decided to leave the house even in the face of pitiful scene now threatening the very foundation of the house. By this point, it had gotten late, and the night had gotten wild, and the streets had become littered with branches and stones and though the path look difficult to traverse, nothing was going to stop this journey from reaching its destination. With each step, the foggy blanket of the clouds overhead began to disperse, and the stars began peeking through, providing illumination. As the sky overhead became clearer, the sound of the voices diminished in volume.
The identity of the “you” the speaker has been addressing is finally revealed, although only allusively and not explicitly. As this person continues down the road the voices which had been so loud and horrible are replaced by a brand-new voice which is the gradually revealed to their own voice. And that voice is also the person speaking to them, keeping them company along the road, and offering not bad advice, but comfort and support. That voice is clearly the speaker, meaning that the speaker and the “you” that the speaker addresses are one and the same. The interior voice of the “you” is no longer offering bad advice contributing negatively to her self-image but is now offering positive re-enforcement which builds her confidence that the changes she is making—the thing that had to be done—will save her from making the mistakes of the past.
