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A bird came down the walk analysis

Decent Essays

In the poem A bird came down the walk explore how Dickinson presents her responses to natural phenomena, including discussion of other relevant poems. 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. Dickinson presents natural …show more content…

The bird “unrolled his feathers”, conveys to the reader the freedom of nature and how spontaneous it is. It’s rather sad to note that her life was indeed unlike that in the fact that Dickinson was mostly oppressed by the pro-hominem views held by the people of America at the time. Focusing on the singular word “unrolled” its key to note how that this word was chosen to create the image and thus implement the idea to the reader that the bird or indeed nature as a whole has the ability to chose whatever path it takes by constantly having, as the cliché goes; ‘a trick up its sleeve’. Here however the tone of the poem changes. The monosyllabic hopping rhythm gives way to the smooth, flowing motion of flight twinned with the image of nautically based images. “And rowed him softer home” is extended by the final stanza to create a softer tone to the final lines of the poem. The alliteration of “Oars...Ocean” and “Silver...Seam” accompanied with the slant rhyme of “Seam...Swim” remove this adverse idea of nature in its true beauty and actually portrays nature in the way Dickinson presumed the reader wanted to see it. These techniques all build up this climax of a beautiful bird through flight across the vast oceans epitomising what nature really is about. Although the final stanza could be interpreted differently as it is created in a rather abstract form. Nature could be attempted to be shown

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