A Narrow Fellow In The Grass

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A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
By: Emily Dickinson

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Style:
-mainly iambic pentameter- a poem that is written with the use of stress

-a poem that is written with the use of stress

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Quatrains:
-It has six quatrains

-The first quatrain discusses this mysterious creature. The creature is describes as harmless and narrow

-Dickinson uses words to describe this creature without indicating to the reader that is is actually a snake. Dickinson describes the creature as being common when she uses the word “common”

-The second quatrain tells how the snake glides through the grass. Dickinson refers to the grass and references a comb so that the reader relates to it like grass. Her descriptive words make the reader feel like the snake is traveling right by their feet. It seems kind of spooky thinking about the snake going by the readers feet but never actually seeing the snake

- Next Dickinson refers to a Boggy Acre. Boggy means wet or marshy. Dickinson discusses corn which grows better in hot dry soil. Dickinson refers to being barefoot while the snake passed his feet in the past, maybe a childhood memory

-In the next lines she refers to the whip lash. She describes the whip lash as coming apart or “unbraiding in the Sun”. I think about a piece of rope that comes apart when it sits in the sun and begins to unravel. The shock of bending down to pick up the rope and to find out it was a snake must be startling. To realize that the creature had taken off without harming you would give you a sense of relief

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Themes:
-The first theme I see is the way Dickinson makes you fearful of the creature. She starts out making you think the creature is a nice “fellow” but in reality it is a snake you should be afraid of

-As the poem continues you realize the reader is actually very scared of snakes and the thought of going by your feet. The reader thinks about the possibility of the snake biting you or trying to suffocate you

-The next theme in the poem is appearances versus the reality of what actually is in the grass. She uses descriptive words in her poem to make you think that is a whip but as you soon find out it is a snake. She actually does not every use the word snake but by the end of the poem you figure out that it is one

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When It was witten:
-19th century. This was a time when America was really pushing literature and trying to define their power in the world

-Since publication was beginning to grow during this period more people were trying to become literate or learn how to read. People were starting to learn how to read and write for the first time in their life

-he world was becoming more modern yet there were plenty of fields still with corn and snakes in it

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Emily Dickinson:
-born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her parents were Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson. Emily had a brother named Austin and a sister named Lavinia. She was born into an affluent family with money

-Emily received a strong education and she even got to attend a year of college which was very rare during those times

-She tended to write about nature in her poetry which is shown in A Narrow Fellow in the Grass. As I read this particular poem I can visualize Ms Dickinson lying in her back yard of her home on a blanket

-Maybe a snake went by her and she decided to write about it. She loved to write letters to her friends and many of those letters have been saved and published. Over her lifetime she wrote over 1,800 poems. In 1864 her eyesight diminished and she was unable to keep up the pace of writing as fast as she had been. She visited many doctors to see if they could help her. One thing I find interesting is that even though she wrote so many poems she never compiled all of her poems into one book before she died

-died on May 15, 1886 in the same home that she was born in.

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Bibliography:
ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.enotes.com>.

wikipedia. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.wikipedia.com>.

The University of Texas at Arlington - UT Arlington - UTA. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.uta.edu>.

Poetry Foundation. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org>.
SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.sparknotes.com>.

BookRags.com | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More. Web. 17 Feb. 2012. <http://www.bookrags.com>.

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