Analysis of A Bird Came Down the Walk by Emily Dickinson

Posted on Jan 14, 2024 in English

A Bird Came Down the Walk

A Bird Came Down the Walk is an extremely famous sonnet by Emily Dickinson. It focuses on a bird, a small animal. She describes the bird as it enters the garden, but the way she uses language makes the poem memorable. The poem focuses on the gap that exists between man’s & nature’s worlds., by including additional questions about struggle & fear, it further develops the theme of nature’s indifference.

Stanza I

Stanza I depicts a bird on its usual land walk arriving. The speaker, who was paying close attention 2 the bird, was invisible. The bird cut the angleworm in equal parts & began eating it crudely. It is completely natural & extremely hostile toward the worm it eats.

Stanza II

Stanza II demonstrates that the bird drank the readily available dew on the grass blades 2 quench its thirst. The beetle was able 2 cross the fence without the bird’s assistance as it abruptly jumped 2 the wall. It is pleasantly unconcerned with the insect. This deadly demonstration refines the little animal & spots it in a minor creature world. The speaker is savoring her mystery spying & this produces lamentable pressures in this present circumstance. In stanza 2, his sudden polite behavior toward the beetle conceals the struggle 4 survival that is shown among nature’s creatures in the 1st stanza.

Stanza III

Stanza III shows that the bird was in a panic & looked around quickly. The bird’s eyes appeared 2 be “frightened beads” that were scurrying about in the grass. The poet got closer 2 it as he observed it moving its velvet head. The speaker praises the beauty of the bird under stress,

This poem contains 3 sections. Each section presents a new speaker who speaks of his very existence in winter. In the 1st stanza, the apple tree tells the speaker that he is mistakenly thinking that it hs died in winter. Externally it may seem that it hs died due 2 the absence of leaves. But its trunk & shoot R still alive. It will prove the fact in the coming summer with its lively buds. In the following stanzas, the grass & the flower similarly describe that they will appear again in the spring. Then the grass will be dancing in the breeze & the flowers will be laughing @ those who thought they have died. Talking in Their Sleep” consists of 3 stanzas. Each stanza contains 10 internally rhyming lines. It is written in the form of a conversation between 3 living things of nature, the apple tree, grass, & flower. This piece contains the AA BCCB DEED. It means the 1st 2 lines of each section form a rhyming couplet. The following lines can be divided into sets of 2 quatrains with a closed rhyming pattern (ABBA).

The central idea of “Talking in Their Sleep” is the dualism of appearance & reality, life & death. In this piece, Thomas shows how winter appears 2 be a time symbolizing loss & decay. While, in reality, nothing dies. In the case of nature, it is in a constant cycle of change. Life renews. Death is jst a stage 2 enter into life. This idea is projected through the remarks of the elements present in the poem.

“Sympathy” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar is a symbolic poem that presents a stark comparison between cruel slavery versus joyous freedom. Dunbar published this thought-provoking piece in 1899. He highlighted the grave problems of African Americans like racial aggregation, slavery, & social discrimination. Using the bird as a metaphor, Dunbar shows the joy of freedom on the 1 hand. On the other hand, the captivated bird shows the struggle & plea of the African Americans that how the world gives the cold shoulder 2 their demands & rights. The beginning of the poem introduces us 2 a natural setting where the sun is shining, the birds R chirping, & the river flows in a set direction. Unfortunately, the caged bird feels dejected. His constant suffering & misery lead him 2 protest against the unjust system of the ruling elites. However, his protest does not make any difference 2 the world. It only adds more sorrow 2 his life. He helplessly bashes himself against the bars & gets badly wounded. Times passed, his wounds turned into scars, but he did not get freedom. However, he does not lose hope despite facing cruelty, aggregation, & discrimination. Instead, he starts singing 4 the happy days. The speaker says that he understands the misery of the captivated bird. He laments his poor condition, but can do nothing 4 him. The poem’s central themes include the catastrophic life of the captured people, discrimination, & suffering. Using bird both as a metaphor & symbol,

“The Awakening” begins with a 1st-person speaker, representing a rose, describing how it grew beside a l1ly way. It lingered @ a path less traveled by. Day by day, it grew 2 fullness, gathering the perfume of creation, & treasuring it into its soft, blossomy heart. The rose never knew why it was there, growing steadily yet silently. 1 day, it dreamt of a bee that merrily flew along the way. It flew across the hedge where the rose lingered long. The beauty of its humming song burdened with love fulfilled its heart. Then it brushed the rose’s petals with a kiss. It made the speaker so blissful that he yielded up its treasured fragrance 2 it. Finally, it realizes why it had been waiting so long 4 jst that moment. “The Awakening” is a lyric poem written in regular rhyme scheme & meter. It consists of 2 stanzas, each having 10 lines. The rhyme scheme of each section is ABABCDCDEE. So, each stanza consists of 2 quatrains, ending with a rhyming couplet. Johnson uses the end-stopped lines in order 2 conclude the sense of each section. There R 8 syllables per line, except the 9th line that contains 4 syllables. The stress falls on the 2nd syllable of each foot (unit of 2 syllables). It means the overall poem is written in the iambic tetrameter with an iambic dimeter variation. Let’s have a look @ the scansion of the 1st 4 lines in order 2 understand the overall metrical scheme.

In the beginning, Lowell addresses the wind as “He”. By investing life, she wants 2 portray it as a cheerful boy wandering about nature. He shouts in the sails & steals pollens from the h1ybees. When he moves through the forest, it makes trees sing with him. Sometimes when the speaker flies a kite, he twirls it. No matter how naughty the wind is, the speaker likes it in every form, be it the laughing “sunny wind” or the howling “rainy wind.”