The Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Poem

GUO Xia

【摘要】：Emily Dickinson was an American poet. However， it was until after her death in 1886 that the breadth of her work became apparent to the public. The birds are one of the most frequent appearances in her poems. This paper mainly studied her poem -- A Bird came down the Walk. Through analyzing the skills Dickinson used in poetry writing， her love for the little creature was clearly shown.

【關键词】：Emily Dickinson; poem; bird

I.Review on Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson （December 10， 1830 – May 15， 1886） was an American poet. She was born in Amherst， Massachusetts into a prominent family with strong ties to its community. After studying at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth， she briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. However， it was until after her death in 1886 that the breadth of her work became apparent to the public.

Dickinson wrote many poems about nature. The weather， the seasons， the sun and moon， the sea， the plants and the animals are all her subjects in the poems. Birds are one of nature’s most common creatures. The little creatures in nature are Dickinson’s best friends in her lonely life. Naturally， she paid a lot of attention to them. She watched them play in her yard and recorded them in her poems. Therefore， they have become one of the most frequently subjects in Dickinson’s nature poems.

II. The Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Poem

—A Bird came down the Walk

The birds like singing and have beautiful voices. At the same time， they are a little timid， so they are afraid of human beings coming near to them. There is a poem about Dickinson’s encounter with a very lovely bird on the road.

A Bird came down the Walk—

He did not know I saw—

He bit an Angleworm in halves

And ate the fellow， raw，

And then he drank a Dew

From a convenient Grass—

And then hopped sidewise to the Wall

To Let a Beetle pass—

He glanced with rapid eyes

That hurried all around—

They looked like frightened Beads， I thought—

He stirred his Velvet Head

Like one in danger， Cautious，

I offered him a Crumb

And he unrolled his feathers

And rowed him softer home—

Than Oars divide the Ocean，

Too silver for a seam

Or Butterflies， off Banks of Noon

Leap， Plashless as they swim.

The poem well reflected Dickinson’s sharp and delicate observation of the bird in nature. She used many rhetorical devices in order to effectively portray the image of the bird.

At the beginning of the poem， a bird suddenly “came down the Walk”. And the speaker—“I” immediately saw him without his notice. Then “I” got the chance to see all his following actions： “bit an Angleworm in halves” and “ate the fellow， raw，”， then “drank a Dew”. This is really a gorgeous meal for him and undoubtedly he felt very content to it. With such a good mood， when he saw a beetle coming， he “hopped sidewise to the Wall /To Let a Beetle pass—”. Here by using personification， the bird’s image as a gentleman comes lively in readers’ minds. The first two stanzas illustrate how the bird behaved when he thought he was safe in the nature. The words “bit”， “ate”， “drank” and “hopped” formed the bird’s carefree and idle life in nature.

Then the bird may notice that there was someone watching， so he “glanced with rapid eyes” and “hurried all around—”. It then followed by a metaphor to deeply explain the situation. The alert eyeballs were like “frightened Beads”. “Beads” showed the shape of the eyeballs and the adjective “frightened” lively portrayed the bird’s expression in alert.

“Like one in danger， Cautious，” is a pun. It can modify not only the bird in the above lines but also the speaker “I” in the following lines. When regarding it as the modifier of the bird， it goes on to show that the bird was frightened and his reaction about the situation—cautious. While it modifies “I”， it shows that the speaker did not want to scare the bird and offer “him a Crumb”. The person intended to establish a friendly relationship with the bird. What’s more， in this way， the bird and the speaker in this poem have been completely merged in the scene.

However， after careful observation， the bird decided to leave. He “unrolled his feathers” and agilely flied home. In order to show his flying manner， Dickinson applied to two metaphors. She compared the wings of the bird to the oars， like “Oars divide the Ocean” without any trace. The bird “swims” freely in the sky the same as the boat “rowed” smoothly in the ocean. The only difference is that there is no plash. The bird flied even softer than the butterfly， lightly leaped and then disappeared. And here also the words “row”， “leap” and “swim” described not only the action of the bird but also the shadow of the speaker. Apparently， the bird is the poetic image of the poet herself. She lived happily in her own world and felt uneasy when there were some other people come to her. This completely fit with her real life. Through this unique point of view and rhetorical devices， the poet showed the readers a multi-dimension to appreciate the poem， “forming a stereoscopic picture” （Wu Dingbo 34）.

III.   Conclusion

From the above poem， we can easily figure out Dickinson’s sharp and delicate observation of the bird in nature. By her remarkable writing skills， such as metaphor， personification， ellipsis and so on， she has effectively portray the image of the bird and her love for the little creature was clearly shown.

Works Cited

Johnson， Thomas H.， ed. The poems of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge： Harvard UP ，1995.

Kirszner， L. G.， and S. R. Mandell. Literature： Reading， Reacting， Writing. Ed. HU Na and ZHANG Bing. 5th ed. Beijing：  Peking UP， 2006. 1039-97.

Li Juan， and Wei Yuqi， ed. “Matthew 10”， New Testment. Tianjin： Tianjin People’s Publishing House， 2003.

吳伟仁，《美国文学史及选读（下册）》。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2009。