"A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" is a poem by Emily Dickinson that describes the speaker's encounter with a snake in the grass. The poem is composed of four stanzas, each containing four lines, and follows an ABAB rhyme scheme. In this essay, we will analyze each stanza in turn to better understand the poem's meaning and themes.
The first stanza introduces the speaker's encounter with the snake and describes its physical characteristics: "A narrow fellow in the grass / Occasionally rides - / You may have met him? - did you not / His notice sudden is." The speaker describes the snake as a "narrow fellow," suggesting its slender, elongated body, and notes that it "occasionally rides," implying that it moves through the grass in a sinuous or serpentine manner. The speaker also asks the reader if they have ever encountered the snake, implying that it is a common sight in the speaker's environment. The final line of the stanza, "His notice sudden is," suggests that the snake is stealthy and elusive, and that it is difficult to spot until it is very close.
The second stanza delves into the speaker's emotional response to the snake: "The grass divides as with a comb, / A spotted shaft is seen, / And then it closes at your feet / And opens further on." The speaker describes the way in which the grass "divides as with a comb" as the snake moves through it, creating a visible path. The "spotted shaft" likely refers to the snake's body, which is marked with distinctive patterns or markings. The final line of the stanza, "And then it closes at your feet / And opens further on," suggests that the snake is a fleeting presence, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. This line also creates a sense of unease or fear, as the speaker is aware of the snake's presence but cannot see where it has gone.
In the third stanza, the speaker reflects on the snake's significance and its place in the natural world: "He likes a boggy acre, / A floor too cool for corn. / Yet when a child, and barefoot, / I more than once, at morn, / Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash / Unbraiding in the sun - / When, stooping to secure it, / It wrinkled, and was gone." The speaker notes that the snake prefers damp, marshy areas, where the ground is too wet and cool for crops to grow. The speaker also recalls their own childhood experiences of encountering the snake and mistaking it for a whip-lash, only to have it slip away when they tried to touch it. This stanza further emphasizes the snake's elusiveness and its ability to blend in with its surroundings.
The final stanza returns to the theme of the snake's physical characteristics and its relationship to the speaker: "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." The speaker admits to having a close, almost familial relationship with "several of nature's people," but notes that the snake is an exception. The speaker's encounter with the snake always leaves them feeling anxious and tense, and they describe their reaction as "a tighter breathing" and a feeling of "zero at the bone," suggesting a deep, guttural fear.
Overall, "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass" is a poem about the speaker's encounter with a snake and the complex emotions it evokes. The snake is described as