A Narrow Fellow in The Grass

A NARROW FELLOW IN THE
GRASS INTRODUCTION
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In A Nutshell
So it turns out that, for a long time, people got Emily Dickinson all wrongor mostly wrong. Teachers and students had this image
of Dickinson as this Civil-War era, virginal, mousey woman that never left her house or wanted to publish a poem. But the more you
look into her letters, her poetry, and newer biographies, the more you see how she was a sarcastic, witty woman who had major
crushes on dudes (and dudettes). She was a total drama queen and could have been a famous poet had she not been so dedicated
to her family and turned off by the world outside of her neighborhood.
Emily wrote letters non-stop, and most of them were to Susan Dickinson (her sister-in-law). It was pretty typical of the time for
women and men to write very personal poetry and share it with people close to them. Emily wrote 1789 poems and poem fragments
this way. Unlike most poets we read today, she wasnt sending off drafts to magazines and trying to make a living out of it. Some
poems did get published though.
One of these was A narrow Fellow in the Grass, published by Sue Dickinson without Emilys knowledge. Sue submitted one of
Emily private poems with some edits and a title (The Snake) to the Springfield Daily Republican. One of those edits was moving
the question mark in the third line. Dickinson may have been secretly happy to get something published, but she certainly wasnt
happy about having people mess with her punctuation. She even wrote a letter to this guy she had a crush on, just so he would
know that she didnt mean to put the question mark at the end of the third line. Heres part of the letter: Lest you meet my Snake
[the published version of A narrow Fellow in the Grass] and suppose I deceive it was robbed of medefeated too of the third line
by the punctuation. The third and fourth were one.
So, clearly, Dickinson was not just scribbling in her diary. She had artistic vision behind her poems, and was rightly cheesed off
when somebody came around to mess with that. And what a vision it was. With A narrow Fellow in the Grass, Dickinson has
crafted a poem that has more layers than a toddler going out into a snowstorm. Every element of the poem calls for our attention.
The dashes, the question mark, the capitalization, and the strange wording are all important, because they mix together to make our
encounter with A narrow Fellow in the Grass both intriguing, and as startling as almost stepping on a snake.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Ever had a chill run down your spine? We bet you have. Was it a person that had such a creepy effect on you, or did you just forget
your jacket on a windy day? If it's the former, person-related experience, boy do we have a poem for you. Emily Dickinson's poetry
is often seen as private, personal, and difficult for people to relate to. But, spend a little time with her work and we bet that, like us,
you'll start to make all kinds of personal connections.
Take this poem, A narrow Fellow in the Grass, for example. A speaker comes across a snake in the grass (literally). No big whoop,
right? Well, for most of us, it isn't. But Dickinson has a gift of exploding the moment, of really examination how a daily occurrence
like this might be meaningful, even vital, to human experience.
Think about it: have you even met something in the worldhuman or animalthat had an immediate, chilling effect on you? What
was it about that encounter that affected you so? What cues gave you that threat response, put your hairs up on end? This poem
really explores that moment of cold realization when you realize that things may not be as warm and fuzzy as you had supposed.
Sure, it's not a particularly pleasant sensation, but it's a one that nearly all of us can relate to at some point in our lives. It's also an
odd, kind of extra-sensory experience when we just feel that something is off, rather than know it explicitly. Dickinson's really tapped
into that primal experience here, but in an elegant and distilled way. So, put your regular senses on hold and dive into this poem. It's
sure to be a sensation you won't soon forget!
GRASS: TEXT OF THE POEM
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A narrow Fellow in the Grass

Occasionally rides
You may have met him? Did you not
His notice instant is
The Grass divides as with a Comb

A spotted Shaft is seen,
And then it closes at your Feet
And opens further on
He likes a Boggy Acre

A Floor too cool for Corn
But when a Boy and Barefoot
I more than once at Noon
Have passed I thought a Whip Lash

Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled And was gone
Several of Natures 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.

GRASS SUMMARY
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The speaker recalls walking through some grass and scaring a snake away. The speaker describes this in vivid and strange ways,
and develops it into an extended metaphor. The snake reminds the speaker of meeting certain people that take his breath away.
STANZA 1 SUMMARY
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Get out the microscope, because were going through this

poem line-by-line.
Lines 1-2
Occasionally rides -
Okay! Off we go. Let's seewell, your guess is as good as ours as to who this fellow is. We get just a few details about
him: he's narrow, he's in the grass, and occasionally he takes rides.
Hmm! Well, since hes narrow and riding "in the Grass," we'll assume that were talking about a snake. Hey! Look at us.
Riddle #1: solved.
But lets not get too settled on that whole snake thing, because its shaping up to be a weird poem.
For example, this snake is called a "Fellow" who "rides." Rides what? Do they make little bikes for snakes? He's being
treated more like a human than an animal so far. That, folks, is called personification. We wonder if this treatment will hold
up through the rest of the poem
Lines 3-4
You may have met him? Did you not
His notice instant is -
The speaker is asking us directly if we have met the snake. It's like he (or she) wants to verify their experience by
checking with us first.
Did you not just seems to be hanging out there after the question mark.
Youd think the question mark would come at the end of the line: You may have met him. Did you not? But it turns out
that when the poem was first published, Dickinsons sister-in-law or the publisher took it upon themselves to put the
question mark at the end (See In a Nutshell for that story and hurry back!).
His notice instant is is also vague, mainly because of the twistedsyntax. But this isn't just an exercise in Yoda-speak.
This line is purposefully worded in such a way that you just cant be sure if he notices you instantly or if you
notice him instantly.
This is a double whammy in a way: both meanings, at the same time, suggest that the snake and the person scare each
other in one simultaneous moment.
Yikes!
STANZA 2 SUMMARY
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poem line-by-line.
Lines 5-6
The Grass divides as with a Comb -
A spotted Shaft is seen,
The speaker goes on to describe what it looks like when you almost step on a snake, and it slithers off.
In a really unique simile, the grass splits like hair being parted with a comb. Now that doesn't seem very threatening, does
it?
For being startled by the snake, we think this simile reflects a mind that is more interested in the movement of the snake,
than threatened by its appearance.
The snake, described here as a spotted Shaft, appears and disappears in the blink of an eye.
Notice the use of passive voice here ("is seen"). It's not clear who is actually doing the seeing, really. Why doesn't the
speaker just say that he (or she) saw the shaft? It's as though the poem wants to generalize this experience so that
everyone can participate in it. How thoughtful!
Lines 7-8
And then it closes at your Feet
And opens further on
Aha! It's not even the speaker's feet anymore. It's "your" (meaning ours, the readers') feet. This speaker is really trying to
get us to consider the experience from our own point of view, not just his (or herswe still haven't figured out just who's
talking to us).
The grass ("it") closes as the snake moves past it, then opens further away to indicate that the snake is moving away from
us. So, who's more afraid here?
The speaker (or us, as the poems draws us in), or the snake?
Rhythm note: By now, and particularly if you're reading out loud, you should notice a kind of regular rhythm to these
stanzas. It's called a "ballad" meter, about which we say much, much more over in "Form and Meter."
STANZA 3 SUMMARY
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poem line-by-line.
Lines 9-10
He likes a Boggy Acre -
A Floor to cool for Corn -
Now were going into Nature Channel mode.

The average snake (according to Emily Dickinson, anyway) really digs marshes, or bogs.
Boggy is the adjective form of bog, and a bog is a wet, grassy field that isnt to different from a wet sponge.
Acre is a unit of measurement for land. It's 4,840 square yards to be precise (as we push up our nerd glasses), but we
don't think the speaker is being that specific. The point is that the snake likes to hang out in swampy places.
Guess what else? He also likes to hide in cool places, cooler even than the floor of a silo (one of those round towers you
see next to barns that are used to store things like corn).
Thanks for this habitat update, speaker. It's great info and all, but what's the point? One answer to that question might
come from the choice of "He likes."
Remember from line 1 how the snake is a "Fellow" who "rides"? Snakes may find suitable habitats that have plentiful prey,
but to say that "He likes" these places is to again suggest that this snake has some human qualities, bordering
on personification.
Lines 11-12
But when a Boy and Barefoot
I more than once at Noon
Now that youre about halfway through the poem, Dickinson throws us a major curve ball
We finally figure out who our speaker is. Shocker! It's a man, or least a male who can remember being a young boy. You
see, Shmoopers?This is why we say, time and again, that you can't confuse the "poet" with the "speaker." Sure, lots of
poets write from their own personal points of view, but, unless we're missing a major piece of her biography, Emily
Dickinson was not one of them. Here, she adopts the point of view of a man, reflecting back on those carefree days of
boyhood, when he would walk around without shoes on.
This is kind of typical boy behavior, but it's striking that Dickinson feels the need to frame it as such. Why couldn't a girl do
this stuff, too?
These lines also set us up for a trip to memory-ville. Get ready for a recollection, folks.
What else did this boy used to get up to? Well, "more than once," he would at noon ah! The suspense is killing us. Let's
read on.
STANZA 4 SUMMARY
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poem line-by-line.
Lines 13-14
Have passed I thought a Whip Lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
The speaker describes a state of confusion at first. At "Noon" (12) (and, remember, as a boy), the speaker passed what
he "thought" to be a whip lash, or an actual whip itself. (By putting a space between "whip" and "lash," the speaker
clarifies that it's not "whiplash"an actual strike or movement of a whipthat he's talking about.)
So, what about this mistaken lash? Well, Dickinson gives us this great verb here: "Unbraiding." In other words, what the
boy notices is that this "whip" looks like it has been out there so long that its starting to come apart.
Okay, so that's the story that this boy is telling us, but we just have to stop for a second a) to admire Dickinson's word
choice ("Unbraiding" = awesome creativity) and b) wonder a bit about what's behind that choice.
The image of a whip unbraiding is a kind of unraveling mess, a once-unified whole coming apart. In this moment, the
speaker is describing a mistaken perception (we, the readers, know that this "Whip Lash" is really a snake). And that
confusion is really nicely reflected, we think, in the image of a whip that is starting to come apart. An unraveling whip is a
bit like the speaker's understanding of his surroundings, which is about to come apart with this mistaken identification.
Of course, if we wanted to go even deeper here, we could also extend this relationship to the reader of the poem, whose
prior assumption of Dickinson-as-the-speaker (i.e., a "she") has been unraveled by the reveal in line 11 that the speaker is
a "he."
Lines 15-16
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled And was gone
So, the speaker goes to pick up what he thinks is a whip then, poof! It's gone.
We think it's telling here that the speaker never says outright that he realized that the lash was actually a snake. "It" is
used to describe, in our mind as readers, the snake, but in the actual syntax of the poem, it refers to the whip itself. It's like
the whip suddenly became animated and slithered ("wrinkled") away. And giving an inanimate whip the ability to crawl
away would be another example ofpersonification. That's a recurring idea in this poem. Dickinson's choices seem to
deliberately invest the snake, or the whip in this case, with human abilities and powers. The line between the inanimate
and animate (human) world seems to be purposefully blurred here.
See how much Dickinson can pack into these seemingly-simple little lines? Color us impressed!
STANZA 5 SUMMARY
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poem line-by-line.
Lines 17-18
I know and they know me
So, now were back to the grown up speaker talking to his audience.
He's got friends, don't you know. Specifically, "Natures People" are some folks he knows.
He also feels compelled to tell us that they know him, too. Why? Wouldn't it be enough to say, "Those Nature People? Oh
yeah, I know them"? It seems that it's not. He wants us to know that they know him, too.
Maybe this back and forth has something to do with who the speaker knows. "Nature People"? Does he mean hippies?
Probably not, since Dickinson wrote this long before the Grateful Dead showed up. More likely, this refers to the snake
and the rest of the critters that live out in the natural world. We might call them animals.
Our speaker doesn't, though. Again, the line between people and animals is blurred. Not only are these animals "People,"
to the speaker, they're also capable of "knowing" him. This relationship is a two-way street, and the animals are able to
"know" the speaker as we might know a person. Once again, we're hit with a helping heaping of personification.
Lines 19-20
Of Cordiality
Woah. Some confusing terminology is going on here. Let's take it bit by bit.
"[T]ransport" is a weird word that would usually be used for the religious and spiritual highs of saints and holy people, but
it also means to carry something from one place to another.
Cordiality is the pleasure that you feel either hosting a guest or being a guest.
So, in other words, the speaker feels either the ecstasy or the transfer (or both!) of hospitable feelings toward "Nature's
People."
Put simply, he's a fan of animals. The way this idea is presented, though, shows us that such feelings are not that
straightforward. He feels some deeper connection to them.
STANZA 6 SUMMARY
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poem line-by-line.
Lines 21-23
Attended or alone
We're back to that "Fellow," the snake.

The speaker, by himself or in company, is deeply affected when he comes across this snake, and not in a good way
(unless you enjoy having shortness of breath).
Now, we should recognize that there is a school of thought that does, in fact, see this in a kind-of-positive light. In other
words, some folks see this encounter with the snake as highly symbolic of sexual intercourse.
The snake might be indeed be a symbol of the male anatomy, we agree. If that is what Dickinson intended, then its not
that hard to see this tighter breathing as that feeling of a pounding heart and quick breathing that you feel when you meet
a gorgeous stud or babe. Right?
That's the great thing about poetry, though, since it's open to interpretation, as all art is. Often, what we take from a poem
says more about us than it does about the poem. So, if you want to see this breathing as a sign of sexual excitement,
more power to you! We even cover this available reading in "Themes: Sex."
Still, we do think there are other ways to look at these lines. The shortness of breath seems to be particularly negative in
one sense, if you follow up with the next line
Line 24
And Zero at the Bone.
This is one of the most famous lines in Dickinson's poetry, maybe in all poetry.
It's famous because, well, nobody really knows exactly what the Sam Hill it means.
We can guess that "zero," being nothing, represents a kind of emptiness, and to feel that "at the Bone," might suggest a
deep disturbance.
This interpretation is supported by the "But" back in line 21. The speaker was telling us about how he really loved all the
animals, but then we get the final lines. In other words, "Animals are great and all, but this snake gives me the heebie-
jeebies"only it seems to be more profound than a passing chill. There seems to be something about this snake that
shakes our speaker to the core.
What could it be? Well, that's a question that critics have wrestled with for decades. You know what? We're in the mood
for some exercise! Check out the rest of this moduleparticularly "Themes" and "Symbols, Imagery, and Wordplay"to
see how we put this question in a headlock and try to get some answers.
SNAKE
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Symbol Analysis
Like a green anaconda found deep in the Amazon jungle, the snake in this poem is a biggie. In fact, he is the biggie. The way you
look at the snake really colors your whole approach to the poem. For that reason, we can say that this "Fellow" is an important
symbol in the poem, but we can't say that there is one clear interpretation as to what, exactly he symbolizes. Instead, we'll present
you with a variety of possible readings. Feel free to pick and choose as you see fit! Ready? Okay
Cue up the song Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones. Our legless friend has a long history and a bad rap when it comes
to literature. The poor guy gets associated with Satan one time in the Book of Genesis and he is seen as an allusion to Satans
corruption of Eve in the Garden of Eden for the rest of time.
Coming from a religious household, Dickinson would certainly be aware of the biblical symbolism of the snake, but that's not all this
"Fellow" can represent here. There are those that argue that the animal (with its resemblance to male body parts) might also be a
stand in for sex and sexuality.
Finally, there are those who say, "You know, sometimes a snake is just a snake." By that token, we can look at this guy as one of
"Nature's People," a representative of the natural world, yet repeatedly endowed in the poem with human qualities.
Frankly, a case can be made that Dickinson riffing on all of these associations. How so? Well, read on.
Line 1: Were never told that the narrow fellow is a snake, but its pretty clear that it is. The snake could be a symbol for
Satan convincing Eve into eating from the Tree of Knowledge, allowing for the creation of original human sin.
Line 3: This rhetorical question doesnt expect an answer, because the speaker already knows that the listener/reader has
met the serpent, in one form or another. Notice how the snake is gendered as a male.
Line 4: The snake pops out of nowhere, catching the speaker (and us) off guard with a comb simile.
Lines 13-14: The snake is mistaken for a living whip. The speaker is at first really thrown by the animal. First he thinks it's
one thing, and then another. In this way, the snake acts as a kind of metaphor for the general uncertainty that confronts
the speaker (and probably us, too) in this poem.
Line 17: The snake is counted as one of "Nature's People," which is a kind of personification. After all, snakes aren't
people, are they? The speaker, though, seems to be making a case otherwise.
Lines 21-24: Coming across the snake is a deeply disturbing experience for our speaker. Just why that is, exactly,
remains open to interpretation. What dangers might snake symbolize here? Sex? Sin? A blurring of the natural and man-
made world? An instability in the very fabric of reality? We would happily sit and listen to a case for all of these
possibilities, and more!
ANALYSIS: FORM AND METER

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Ballad Meter (mostly), with Regular Rhyme

Close to Common
A narrow Fellow in the Grass is loosely based on what is called common meter. Common meter is the same sort of pattern youd
find in Protestant Christian hymns. What's that pattern look like? Well, first off, it alternates between lines of iambic tetrameter and
iambic trimeter. How's that, you say? Well, an iamb is a pair of syllables in which the first is stressed and the second is unstressed.
It makes a sound like da DUM (say the word "allow" and you'll hear an iamb). Iambic tetrameter, then, tells us that a line has four
iambs in it ("tetra" means four), where iambic trimeter is a line of three iambs.
Amazing Grace is the most famous hymn in common meter, so let's check out how this rhythm sounds in action:
Amazing grace how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
If you go back and read that out loud, you should hear four da DUM's in likes 1 and 3 (that's iambic tetrameter) and three da DUM's
in lines 2 and 4.
Notice, too, the rhyme scheme here. Lines 1 and 3 rhyme, as do lines 2 and 4, so the rhyme scheme would be ABAB, where A
represents the end rhymein lines 1 and 3, and B represents the end rhyme in 2 and 4.
Power Ballad
Okay, so any questions about the common meter? Good. Emily Dickinson probably picked this up from her family, since they
belonged to a Calvinist community. Only, much of her poetry (this one included) uses somethingslightly different,
called ballad meter. Ballad meter is different from common meter in that only the even numbered lines have to rhyme. So, instead of
a rhyme scheme of ABAB, we'd get a scheme of ABCB (lines 1 and 3 don't rhyme).
Ballad meter, like common meter, still means alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and trimeter, though. For example:
The Grass divides as with a Comb--

A spotted shaft is seen-- (5-6)
You should hear four, then three dum DA's in those lines, indicating the rhythm of the ballad meter. Still, this is not iron-clad for the
poem. There are lines that don't neatly follow the pattern, namely after the second stanza. And this consideration leads us to
The Why's and Wherefore's

Why would Dickinson choose this format to deliver her poetry? Well, one answer has to do with her religious upbringing and
familiarity with hymns, as we've already mentioned. Still, there's also something a bit disquieting about putting these deceptively
tricky thoughts in what normally amounts to a sing-songy pattern. The regular rhyme and rhythm tends to lull the reader to sleep a
bit. It's easy to gloss over the really detailed eye of Dickinson in the imagery and personification at work in her poem.
We think, though, that this was part of the point. Notice how, instead of the regular 8 syllables in lines 1 and 3, from stanza three on,
the first and third lines of each stanza only contain 7? What's going on here? Is this a coincidence?
Nay, Shmoopers, we submit to you that Dickinson knew precisely what she was doing. In a poem that plays with the line between
reality and imagination (it is a snake or a whip?), this metrical shift happens on purpose. Just as the reader is kept on his toes about
the nature of the speaker, the nature of the snakeheck, the nature of reality itself, the meter of the poem also changes to subtly
indicate that not everything is as expected.
BAC
ANALYSIS: SPEAKER
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Like the snake, the speaker in this poem is a key element. Of course, that's not saying much, since really those two are the only
identifiable figures in the whole thing. Still, the speaker goes a long way toward accomplishing in the reader the same destabilizing
sense of unease that the speaker himself admits to in the poem's last stanza.
Notice that? We said himself. That's because, smack dab in the middle of this poem, we learn that the speaker is not a woman (as
a reader might assume in reading a poem written by Emily Dickinson), but a man. More importantly, he's a man looking back at his
youth as a boy. So, we're really at two removes from Dickinson the poet.
1. A couple of things about this:

This is why it's always, always a good idea to talk about the "speaker," as opposed to the "poet," when discussing poetry
(they're not always two peas in the same pod, you know).
2. Why do you think Dickinson does this? Couldn't a girl go walking through the grass and find a snake just as easily? It
seems that there's something else going on, some purposeful attempt to pull the rug out from under the reader.
In a poem that deals with the confusion between snake and "Fellow," snake and whip, and nature and people, one way to see the
speaker is just as another device to remind the reader that, what is assumed to be one thing to begin with, may not always be what
we assume it to be in the end.
ANALYSIS: SETTING
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Where It All Goes Down

The setting is the typical, gorgeous field taken straight out of an allergy medicine commercial. Theres tall grass and the occasional
tree to provide shade from the happy sun. Imagine that its about 1860, and out there in the field is a little boy with no shoes on.
(Huck Finn is a good example, if you need a little help.) This is a great start, but as we move through the poem, we figure out that
the speaker is telling this story to someone upon first meeting them.
As a result, we're no longer in the setting we first expected. Instead, we're inside a conversation, which is really just the speaker's
memory of his boyhood experiences. Once again, Dickinson has pulled a switcheroo on us. Think it's a girl speaker? Nope, it's a
boy. Think that's a "Fellow"? Nope, it's a snake? Think that's a whip? Nopesnake again. Think that the speaker is at one with
"Nature's People"? Nope, the snake actually deeply disturbs him.
In this way, the setting is just one more tool at Dickinson's disposal to invite, and then undermine, our expectations. Now, is she
doing this just to be mean? We'd like to think not. Instead, maybe she's provoking us into our own, private realizations. Maybe she's
encouraging us to question, you know, everything. In a poem where even the setting can change on you at the drop of a new line, it
pays to adopt that mindsetand to be wary of how prior assumptions can cause us to lose our grip on what's actually going on.
ANALYSIS: SOUND CHECK

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Sound-wise, the biggest thing going on in this poem is the end rhyme of the second and fourth lines in each stanza. Oh sure, you'll
find some use ofalliteration here ("Boy, and Barefoot," "stooping to secure"), but Dickinson's lines are so short that there are really
not enough words to string together to create much of sensation with repeated beginning sounds.
Nope, the real action is with the rhyme, and rightly so in our opinion. After all, Dickinson was nodding (though not bowing) to
the ballad form in her poetry (for more on that, check out "Form and Meter"), and rhyme was one of the ways that this form is held
together.
Still, how tight is that rhyming ship? First off, only the half the lines in the poem rhyme, and some of the rhymes aren't even that
exact. "Rides" and "is"? "Seen" and "on"? "Corn" and "Noon"? "Sun" and "gone"? Now, was Dickinson just a bad poet, or was
something else going on here?
Well, one way to look at the sounds here is as slant rhymes. These are rhymes that are nearly, but not exactly, the same sounds,
andthis is importantthey are used for a reason. For Dickinson, her use of slant rhyme is totally in keeping with the way she
takes out a syllable in the first and third lines of stanzas 3 through 6: she's subtly subverting the established, expected pattern. Think
about it: in a poem that discusses the shock of expectations being dashed (that whip is actually a snake!), we think slant rhyme is
really the best way, sonically-speaking, to get the idea across.
ANALYSIS: WHAT'S UP WITH

THE TITLE?
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Emily Dickinson only titled one out of 1,789 poems she wrote, and this isnt the one. Sometimes Dickinson poems are given
numbers. Ralph Franklin, the Dickinson scholar of all Dickinson scholars, assigned this poem number 1,096. Still, there's not much
that the number 1,096 can tell us about this poem.
For simplicitys sake, then, let's go by the first line of the poem. A narrow Fellow in the Grass isnt a bad title for this little guy, and
we'd say it's a pretty effective first line, too. (The title it was first published under, The Snakecheck out the story behind the
publication in In a Nutshellcould have been thought up by a class of third-graders.) How is it so effective? Well, just think about
the ways that it announces some core themes that will be developed in the poem.
Way #1: We learn of a "narrow Fellow." At first, the reader is put in mind of a person, not a snake. This sets us up for the (we think
intentional) confusion between humans and animals that will continue throughout the poem.
Way #2: This "Fellow" is "in the Grass." Of course, that's a perfectly reasonable place for a snake to be, but it's also a good place for
a snake tohide. What is hidden and what is revealed seems to be a key concern of this poem, what with its boy speaker and whip
that becomes a snake.
Of course, the real intrigue of the poem (and why folks continue to write and think about it do this day) is what is never revealed to
the reader. It's not one of those "here's-my-theme" poems that comes right out. Instead, like a snake in the grass, this poem seems
narrow and simple at first, but then twists out of our grasp. And the first line goes a long way to set us up for that experience.
ANALYSIS: CALLING CARD

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A Capital, Dashing Hymn that Will Take You Years to Understand

"A narrow Fellow in the Grass is so Emily Dickinson, it makes Emily Dickinson look like Sylvia Plath. Um, well, so maybe that
doesn't make much sense, but the point is that this poem has Dickinson's trademarks all over it.
Without even reading a word, in fact, you can tell from the odd capitalization and the seemingly random use of dashes that this is
Emily's work. Those idiosyncrasies in her writing style were originally edited out as her first publishers sought to "correct" her
mistakes. Over time, though, scholars have come to appreciate the possibility that Dickinson was actually writing this way, you
know, on purpose, and that folks were doing her poems a great disservice by trying to force them to follow conventional rules.
The use of the ballad form is pretty much the only rule that Dickinson ever sticks by, and even then she does so in her own, unique
way (see "Form and Meter" for more on that). In the end, "A narrow Fellow in the Grass is, like all of Dickinson's poems, entirely her
ownsmall, yet incredibly dense, jammed with possibilities of interpretation that leave some readers tearing their hair out, and
others frolicking down the seemingly-endless paths of her poetic intentions.
ANALYSIS: TOUGH-O-METER
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(6) Tree Line

The word order (a.k.a. syntax) of the poem is very confusing at times, but this is how Dickinson can squeeze multiple meanings out
of words and phrases. Most of the lines break down into short sentences without helpful punctuation (aside from those cryptic
dashes) to guide the reader. Another difficult aspect of the poem is how the subject matter shifts without much warning.
All these different aspects can add up to make A narrow Fellow in the Grass a frustrating read. However, the payoff is that you can
re-read it five times and get a different interpretation, depending on what sticks out to you at the moment. Now, what else can you
say that about, but art? In a world obsessed with "facts," talking points, and clear brand messaging, we're relieved, frankly, that
complex, open-ended work like this still exists. Rather than hitting you over the head with is central "theme" over and over again,
this poemlike all good poemsinvites you in, sits you down, and lets you just be still and think for a moment. Heck, take two!
ANALYSIS: TRIVIA
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Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge

Although Dickinsons family was devout Calvinist Christian, she never could accept the teaching of original sin (when Adam and
Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge). (Source.)
It could be that the poem's issues with vision and perception were front of mind for Emily Dickinson. She suffered from an eye
condition that most today think was iritis. (Source.)
Broken promises = good news for us. On her deathbed, Dickinson asked her sister to burn all of her poems, almost all of which had
gone unread by anyone. Fortunately, they were not burned, but published.
ANALYSIS: STEAMINESS
RATING
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Exactly how steamy is this poem?

NC-17
Truly, the sex rating depends on how you want to interpret that pesky snake. If you see it just a straight-up stand-in for a male body
part, then we can see how things can quickly get risqu. Notice how this narrow Fellow isnt ever called a snake. Lets see He
rides along. He combs the grass. And hello hes described as a shaft going through an opening in the grass between the
speakers feet!? If that wasnt enough, this snake leaves the speaker in ecstasy (a.k.a. transport) and short of breath! Why Miss
Dickinson, we had no idea!
Of course, that's just one possible interpretation. If the snake seems less a phallus and more about the blurred line between man
and nature, or between perception and reality, then bring the kids, gang! This would get a big, family-friendly G.
ANALYSIS: ALLUSIONS
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When poets refer to other great works, people, and

events, its usually not accidental. Put on your super-
sleuth hat and figure out why.
Religious References
The serpent in the Garden of Eden (whole poem)
Literary and Philosophical References
In Winter in my Room"a poem Dickinson wrote that involves a worm/snake, Cordiality, and thinly veiled hints at sex
(whole poem)

GRASS THEME OF AWE AND
AMAZEMENT
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A narrow Fellow in the Grass reexamines two amazing snake-sightings that would otherwise seem very normal to a person without
a poets eye for imagery. The first amazing sighting of the poem is when the speaker almost steps on a snake, and the second is
mistaking a different snake for a leather whip. In both cases, most folks would keep on walking, but our speaker relates these as
extraordinary events. Why? Well, because in a way they are extraordinary. What happens to the mind in the moment that
assumption and expectation are undone? Is there a clear line between one world in nature, and another in the human realm? These
are super-big-picture questions (like, billboard-sized), and they don't have any real, immediate answers. Our speaker doesn't seem
to mind, though. He's content to live in the sensation that such questions and experiences produce. And in this poem, that sensation
is best described as awe and amazement.
Questions About Awe and Amazement

1. What words in the poem indicate that the speaker is in awe of the snake?
2. How does the strange word order and punctuation in lines 3 and 4 add to the amazement that the speaker finds in the
snake?
3. What cold, hard (i.e., non-amazing) facts do we gather in this poem?
4. How does the awe inspired in the speaker by the snake compare to the awe inspired by Natures People?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devils advocate.
The strange word order in lines 3 and 4 creates this jerky feeling through incomplete thoughts and a seemingly misplaced question
mark. The twisted syntax here, and elsewhere in the poem, mimics the way seeing a snake would make you jump. Look out!
For the speaker, it's impossible to be amazed without being deeply disturbed and afraid at the same time. That explains the poem's
final, shiver-ific stanza.

GRASS THEME OF FEAR
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So, the Romantic poets revived this classical literary term called the sublime. The sublime isnt only a Long Beach pseudo-reggae
band from the '90s, in literary terms it's the experience of pleasure and fear in one moment. Dickinson, we know, was no stranger to
the Romantics, and A narrow Fellow in the Grass is a good example of how fear can create such a rush that it is pleasurable and
that pleasure can be so extreme that it causes fear. (Think about the lure of extreme sports, only here it's snake-hunting.) In the
end, though, fear seems to win out. While the speaker expresses interest and wonder in the snake, he ends his story on a chilling
and unsettling note.
Questions About Fear

1. Is the speaker more afraid of the snake or of not recognizing the snake to begin with?
2. Is there anything pleasurable about the speakers frightening experience of almost stepping on a snake? If so, what?
3. Why is the speaker afraid of one of "Natures People" (the snake) if they know each other already?\
4. Does the phrase Zero at the bone suggest fear, or something else? Why?
Chew on This
The speaker is to be more afraid of mistaking the snake for a whip, than he is of the snake itself. The snake inspires curiosity, but
having unreliable perception is horrifying. Glasses anyone?
The speaker is afraid of the snake, one of "Natures People," because Natures People understand him better than anyone else, and
that cuts through his defenses. Ouch!

GRASS THEME OF SEX
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Folks, we're not saying that the snake = sex in this poem. Then again, we're not saying that it doesn't equal sex, either. You know
who else isn't saying? That's right: ol' long-dead Emily Dickinson. So, that leaves scholars and critics to speculate about Dickinsons
sexuality and romantic experiences through her poetry. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your attitude), there are so many
poems and letters that present conflicting interpretations that it is really up to you to decide. With A narrow Fellow in the Grass
specifically, it's hard to tell how far to push implications of sexual content. Sure, if you look for sex in the poem you can find it. Sure,
the snake could easily be seen as a phallic symbol, but then again it could just be a snake. Who's to say? Well, you are, ultimately.
Still, if you are leaning in that direction, we can assure you that the element of sex can be found here. You just have to look for it.
Questions About Sex

1. Why does the speaker never refer to the snake as an actual snake?
2. Do you think I feel for them a transport/ Of Cordiality implies sexual attraction, or something closer to friendship? Why?
3. How are knowledge and experience forms of intimacy, and how do they relate to sex in the poem?
4. Do you think the speaker fears intimacy, even with a snake, or is he attracted to it? Maybe a bit of both? Why?
Chew on This
Sex, to the speaker, is a great unknown. He can only guess at it through this elaborate snake-encounter story, which is why it's so
scary. Boo!
This poem is not about sex per se, but rather about personal intimacy. The speaker is describing his difficulty in maintaining a
friendship with a particular person (the "Fellow" in the last stanza).
GRASS THEME OF RELIGION
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While it's not obvious, religion is the foundation on which this poem is built. Dickinson has modified the story of Adam, Eve, and the
serpent (a.k.a. Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Old Scratch, Mephistophelesyou know, the devil). A narrow Fellow in the Grass draws
specifically from the Book of Genesis, the first part of the Old Testament in the Bible. As the scripture goes, Eve was convinced to
eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, and Adam eats it too. After this, Adam and Eve become ashamed of their
nakedness and become mortal. Dickinson does a lot in this poem, but the allusion to Adam, Eve, and the serpent is the biblical
bedrock upon which everything else in the poem rests.
Questions About Religion

1. How does the rhetorical question in line 3 parallel the serpents temptation of Eve?
2. In Genesis 3:14, God curses the snake, On your belly you will go. How does this appear in the poem?
3. Natures People and the barefoot boy suggest innocence. How do they relate to the story of Adam and Eve?
4. What religious reasons might the speaker have to fear the snake in stanza 6?
Chew on This
The curse on Eve and the serpent is revised in the poem to restore the Garden of Eden peace between humans and the natural
world. A happy ending after all!
In A narrow Fellow in the Grass, the speaker's love for Natures People is a reminder of the perfect state once known by Adam and
Eve in the Garden of Eden. That was pre-serpent, though, which is why the speaker is so freaked out at the end of the poem.

GRASS AWE AND AMAZEMENT
QUOTES
See more famous quotes from poetry
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1
2
3
How we cite our quotes: (Line)

Quote #1
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1)
Its very weird to call a snake a "Fellow." This makes sure that we know its a boy snake, but it also implies that the speaker and the
snake "know" each other on a personal level. This familiarity sets us up later for the chilling revelation that undercuts this chummy
business in the final stanza.
Awe and Amazement
Quote #2
Occasionally rides (2)
How does a snake "ride" anything? Snakes dont have legs. Does this mean that the grass is moving? Already the speaker is
describing the snake in amazing ways.
Awe and Amazement
Quote #3
You may have met him? Did you not (3)
It makes total sense that someone would publish this line with a question mark at the end, but Dickinson was insistent that she had
it in just the right place. In this version, it's as though the speaker is convincing the reader that, yes, this snake and its amazing
properties are known to others, too. So, it's not just the speaker who's amazed.

Quote #4
His notice instant is (4)
Notice how stating the surprise in a normal way doesnt compare to the moments of surprise that contain poetic imagery. The
question is, who notices who?
Awe and Amazement
Quote #5
Have passed I thought a Whip Lash (13)
[T]hought sets you up for the amazing transformation of the snake. The snake first exists in the speaker's mind (mistakenly) as a
whip, but then "transforms" into the reality of a snake. The reflection seems tinged with amazement in this moment, as the
previously-assumed reality in the mind twists into a new, snake-y reality for the speaker.
Awe and Amazement
Quote #6
Several of Natures People (17)
Where is the line between expected and unexpected, between ho-hum and amazed? The speaker seems to dance all over it in this
poem, just as he dances along the distinction between humans and animals.
Awe and Amazement

Quote #7
And a Zero at the Bone (24)
The sum total of this amazing experience is a deeply unsettling feeling. This description of a physical sensation is amazing in itself,
but it reminds the reader that amazementwhich naturally accompanies any break with expected realityis always tinged with fear
and anxiety about the encroachment of the unknown element.
Awe and Amazement

GRASS FEAR QUOTES
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Quote #1
The Grass divides as with a Comb (5)
Hello?! The speaker almost stepped on a snake, but isnt fazed. He quickly moves on to observe the grass as the snake moves
away. Not us. We would have freaked out if that happened.
Fear
Quote #2
It wrinkled And was gone (16)
When things disappear into thin air, this is scary. Here we have another example of the speaker's vision failing to render the world
for what it really is.
Fear
Quote #3
And Zero at the Bone (23-24)
This is a great description of the fight or flight response. In the speaker's case, we're guessing flight. It seems that the experience
of these snake encounters is just too much for his fragile grasp on reality.
Fear
GRASS SEX QUOTES
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1
2

Quote #1
Occasionally rides (1-2)
The image of a narrow "fellow" lost in the grass is, without drawing you a picture, possibly a reference to intercourse. The mention of
riding in line 2 only strengthens that possible interpretation.
Sex
Quote #2
A spotted Shaft is seen, (5)
Could this be a possible reference to the male anatomy? Some say "Yes!" Others say "Nay!" What say you?
Sex
Quote #3
I know, and they know me (17-18)
You may have come across the phrase to know someone in the biblical sense. This is a polite way of suggesting a sexual
relationship. So, to know someone could mean that this group, Natures People, and the speaker have a sexual past.
Sex

Quote #4
Of cordiality (19-20)
These lines make perhaps the strongest case for a sexual interpretation of this poem. The speaker here is telling us that he feels
some deep kinship for "Nature's People," a connection that would seem to surpass mere platonic friendship.
Sex
GRASS RELIGION QUOTES
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1
2

Quote #1
A narrow Fellow in the Grass (1)
Its never clear who or what this fellow actually is about, and he remains a mysterious, hidden, and potentially evil figure like the
Fellow that we meet in line 21.
Religion
Quote #2
When a Boy and Barefoot (11)
Barefoot is a form of nakedness (no word on whether the speaker was wearing a fig leaf) that is associated with freedom and
innocence, as opposed to shame and fear.
Religion
Quote #3
Several of Natures People (17)
In Western culture, who is more representative of Natures People than Adam and Eve? These two were the closest to nature,
likely, that humanity will ever be.
Religion

Quote #4
Attended, or alone
Without a tighter breathing
And Zero at the Bone (21-24)
How would you feel if you came face to face with the devil himself? We hope never to find out, but we can guess that "Zero at the
Bone" is a pretty good way of describing such horror.
Religion
GRASS QUESTIONS
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Bring on the tough stuff - theres not just one right answer.
1. Do you agree with people who say that this poem is about sex? Why or why not?
2. What do you think the snake represents to the speaker?
3. What might it feel like to experience a Zero at the Bone?
4. Who are Natures People and how would you know them? How would they know you?
5. Is the speakers experience terrifying, pleasurable, or both? Why?

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