Emily Dickinson’s Complex Emotions to?Nature in “A Narrow Fellow In The Grass”

【Abstract】“A Narrow Fellow In The Grass” is one of many poems of Emily that deal with the subject of nature. In this poem， Emilys complex feelings to snake are well exposed to the readers through the change of the tense and the tone of narrating， which suggests Emilys complicated emotions to nature.

【Key words】A Narrow Fellow In The Grass 1; Emily Dickinson 2; Complex Emotions to Nature 3

【作者簡介】骆菀如（1989-），女，湖南司法警官职业学院教师，文学硕士，研究方向：英美文学、英语教学。

1. Preface

“A Narrow Fellow In The Grass” is one of the few poems which was published when Emily was still a live. And it is also one of many poems of Emily that deal with the subject of nature. Emily writes many poems about nature， which shows her deep love and appreciation to it. She calls the creatures in nature as “Forest Folk”（Dickinson， “A Fuzzy Fellow” 58）， or “Pretty people in the Woods” （Dickinson， “Bee” 38）. Many members of the forest folk are main characters in Emilys poems， such as spider， frog， birds and butterfly. They are endowed with different human qualities. In this poem， there is no mention of snake， however， from the vivid descriptions， the readers can still get the image of it easily.

2. Contradictory feelings to snake

For Emily， she expressed her contradictory feelings to snake in this poem. On one hand， the speaker appreciates its beauty and calls it as him “fellow”. In these lines：

The Grass divides as with a Comb──

A spotted Shaft is seen──

And then it closes at your feet

And opens further on── （5-8）

the snake is described so beautiful with its soft strength， quick speed and great sensitivity. When the speaker tried to “secure” it， it just was gone. It is always the experience that when you are catching something in your mind， but it suddenly disappears， at one time it will cover with mysterious veil which attracts you to appreciate and find it. It is the same with the experience of sudden meeting with the snake. The more it is mysterious， the more the speaker likes it and appreciates it.

On the other hand， “shaft” and “whip”， as metaphors of snake， suggest its hidden danger to humans. Probably， all of sudden， it will bite you， like a shaft stabbing you or a whip trashing you， and finally kill you， since it is a kind of poisonous creature. Generally， in western countries， snake is endowed with special religious significance， which means the evil. In Bible， Satan， disguising as a snake， induced Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. As result， Adam and Eve committed original sin and were driven off from paradise. So， snake always symbolizes the evil and the unknown danger. The danger both from its religious meaning and from the snake itself terrifies the speaker. Though the speaker loves snake and call it as fellow， because of its hidden danger to him， he is afraid of it at the same time. That also shows Emilys complex feelings to snake.

3. Changing the tense and the tone of narrating

In this poem， in order to express her complicated emotions to snake， Emily ingeniously changes the tense and the tone of narrating， which helps increase the beauty of the poem. From the first stanze to the forth stanze， the speaker tells about the characteristics and habits of snake and recalls their sudden meeting in the grass when he was just a child. The tone is slack and relaxed which shows the love of speaker to snake. However， when it comes to the last stanze beginning with “but”， a sudden change happens：

But never met this Fellow

Attended， or alone

Without a tighter breathing

And zero at the Bone （13-16）

It is like a music changing sharply from the tender to the tense. The good impression on snake immediately disappears， but only a dread fear， which makes the speaker feel “zero at the Bone”， abruptly overwhelms him. The sudden change of tone in the poem well exposes Emilys completely different feelings towards snake.

The tense also changes frequently in this poem. From the first stanze to the beginning of the second stanze， it is present， mainly talking about habits and characteristics of snake; while the remaining part of the second stanze is past tense，  which is about the recollection of their meeting in the grass. The third stanze again is present. It is about the speakers feeling “a transport of cordiality” for “natures people”. However， the final stanze is past tense， which is about the horrible feeling to snake when it disappeared in the grass. The tense of the whole poem is juxtaposed between the present and the past. The parts in the present tense show his affection to snake， while the parts in the past tense express his dread fear of it. And in the first juxtaposition， the transition is sudden and seems to be grammatically wrong like this：

“I more than once at noon / Have passed， I thought， a whip lash”（12-13）. The speaker is recalling， so he uses past tense to describe what happened in his childhood. However， he uses the present perfect tense for the action of “pass”. The speakers mind shuttles back and forth between the present and the past， which successfully exposes the complicated emotions of the speaker and also of Emily towards snake.

4. Conclusion

In short， Emilys complex feelings to snake are well exposed to the readers through the change of the tense and the tone of narrating. Since snake is one member in nature， the expression of different feelings to snake suggests Emilys complicated emotions to nature. For one hand， she love and enjoy natures beauty and call the creatures in nature as her intimate fellows; for the other hand， nature， like the snake， is always with unknown danger which threatens and terrifies Emily. Especially， as she grows up and becomes an adult， she feels the estrangement from nature and can not be in it and feel it completely. Like the speaker in the poem， when he was just a child， he could face the snake with barefoot; however， being an adult now， what he emphasizes more of his experience meeting with snake is his terrible fear of it. There is always estrangement between human beings and nature which can not be eliminated. Human beings feelings towards nature are complicated.

References：

[1]Feng. Dickinson， Emily[J]. The Bee Is Not Afraid of Me，38.

[2]Feng. Dickinson， Emily[J]. A Fuzzy Fellow， Without Feet，58.

[3]Feng， Jiang， trans. and ed.. Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson. By Emily Dickinson[M]. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research P.， 2012.

[4]狄金森，艾米麗，刘守兰.一个瘦长的家伙在草丛.英美名诗解读[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2003，38.

[5]刘守兰.狄金森研究[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，2006.