“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Summary

“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Themes

• 

  Fear, Deceit, and the Unknown

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• 

  Nature and Humanity

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A narrow Fellow in the Grass”

• Lines 1-2

  A narrow Fellow in the Grass
  Occasionally rides -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  You may have met him? Did you not
  His notice sudden is -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  The Grass divides as with a Comb,
  A spotted shaft is seen,
  And then it closes at your Feet
  And opens further on -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  He likes a Boggy Acre -  
  A Floor too cool for Corn -
  But when a Boy and Barefoot
  I more than once at Noon

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Have passed I thought a Whip Lash
  Unbraiding in the Sun
  When stooping to secure it
  It wrinkled And was gone -

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  Several of Nature’s People
  I know, and they know me
  I feel for them a transport
  Of Cordiality

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-22

  But never met this Fellow
  Attended or alone

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 23-24

  Without a tighter Breathing
  And Zero at the Bone.

  

  

  

  

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“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Symbols

• 

  Snakes

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• 

  Whips

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“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Fellow
• Boggy
• Acre
• Whip Lash
• Secure
• Transport
• Cordiality
• Zero

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A narrow Fellow in the Grass”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Speaker

“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “A narrow Fellow in the Grass”

More “A narrow Fellow in the Grass” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — Julie Harris delivers a nicely sinister reading of the poem.

  • The Emily Dickinson Museum — The website for the museum in Dickinson's former home, with much more information on her life and works.

  • The Poem in Dickinson's Own Handwriting — View a copy of the poem from the Morgan Library.

  • The Poetry Foundation on Dickinson — A short biography of Dickinson, including links to some of her poems.

  • The Meaning of Snakes and Serpents — A breakdown of the historical and symbolic significance of snakes in myth and literature.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Emily Dickinson

  • A Bird, came down the Walk

  • After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

  • A Light exists in Spring

  • A Murmur in the Trees—to note—

  • An awful Tempest mashed the air—

  • As imperceptibly as grief

  • A still—Volcano—Life—

  • A Word dropped careless on a Page

  • Because I could not stop for Death —

  • Before I got my eye put out

  • Fame is a fickle food

  • Hope is the thing with feathers

  • I cannot live with You –

  • I cautious, scanned my little life

  • I could bring You Jewels—had I a mind to—

  • I did not reach Thee

  • I died for Beauty—but was scarce

  • I dreaded that first Robin, so

  • I dwell in Possibility –

  • I felt a Funeral, in my Brain

  • If I can stop one heart from breaking

  • I had been hungry, all the Years

  • I have a Bird in spring

  • I heard a Fly buzz - when I died -

  • I like a look of Agony

  • I like to see it lap the Miles

  • I measure every Grief I meet

  • I’m Nobody! Who are you?

  • I started Early — Took my Dog —

  • I taste a liquor never brewed

  • It was not Death, for I stood up

  • I—Years—had been—from Home—

  • Like Rain it sounded till it curved

  • Much Madness is divinest Sense -

  • My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun

  • Nature is what we see

  • One need not be a Chamber — to be Haunted

  • Publication — is the Auction

  • Safe in their Alabaster Chambers

  • Shipwreck

  • Success is counted sweetest

  • Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

  • The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

  • The Bustle in a House

  • The Mushroom is the Elf of Plants

  • There came a Wind like a Bugle

  • There is no Frigate like a Book

  • There's a certain Slant of light

  • There's been a Death, in the Opposite House

  • The saddest noise, the sweetest noise

  • The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean

  • The Soul has bandaged moments

  • The Soul selects her own Society

  • The Wind – tapped like a tired Man –

  • They shut me up in Prose –

  • This is my letter to the world

  • This World is not Conclusion

  • 'Twas the old—road—through pain—

  • We grow accustomed to the Dark

  • What mystery pervades a well!

  • Whose cheek is this?

  • Wild nights - Wild nights!