Here’s a full analysis of the poem ‘A narrow Fellow in the Grass’ by Emily Dickinson, tailored towards A-Level students but also suitable for those studying at a higher level. Enjoy and feel free to leave feedback if you found it useful!
Includes:
POEM
VOCABULARY
STORY / SUMMARY
SPEA...
A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides -
You may have met him? Did you not
His notice instant is -
The Grass divides as with a Comb,
A spotted Shaft is seen,
And then it closes at your Feet
And opens further on -
He likes a Boggy Acre -
A Floor too cool for Corn -
But when a Boy and Barefoot
I more than once at Noon
Have passed I thought a Whip Lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled And was gone -
Several of Nature’s People
I know, and they know me
I feel for them a transport
Of Cordiality
But never met this Fellow
Attended or alone
Without a tighter Breathing
And Zero at the Bone.
, VOCABULARY
Fellow - a gentleman, usually a polite and friendly term - in this case, applied to the
creature
Shaft - a long, narrow part of something - in this case the ‘spotted’ body of the snake
Boggy - swampy, as in a bog
Acre - a measure of land
Barefoot - without shoes
Noon - midday
Whip lash - the movement of a whip, a swish through the air
Cordiality - being friendly, happy and accepting of others
Attended - with a company, having other people around you
STORY / SUMMARY
It is important to note that the speaker is male, and therefore not representative of
Dickinson herself in this poem. It may have been influenced by an anecdote told to
her by a friend, or she may have simply thought that walking ‘barefoot’ through a
swamp was more of a ‘boyish’ thing to do, and therefore changed her poetic persona
to male. Either way, be careful not to state that Dickinson herself is providing the
account of the story.
Adopting a conversational tone, the speaker asks the addressee (presumably the
general reader) whether we ever saw a snake? He states that the snake appears
instantly - speaking to us as if the snake is a slightly unusual man who does not
follow the customary rules of society, and therefore represents a certain fear or
danger which we associate with something unknown or non-compliant with the
normal social rules. This perhaps suggests that he feels Nature also mostly works by
codes and rules that most animals follow - allowing them to coexist happily
alongside one another - but that somehow the snake seems to live by its own rules,
which makes it potentially threatening.
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