Discuss Dickinson’s Relationship with Nature

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By observing the poems: ‘’A narrow fellow in the grass’’ and ‘’A bird came down the walk’’ we can see that Dickinson has a very complex relationship with nature. Dickinson’s perception of nature is by no means ‘ordinary’. In general the word ‘nature’ springs to mind images of tranquillity and beauty whereas Dickinson tends to focus on how nature is associated with death and danger. Dickinson never declares the obvious in the poem ‘’A narrow fellow in the grass’’ since the word snake in never mentioned although, there is not much description to go on, only that the creature is "spotted" and that it is large enough to make (to the human eye) noticeable changes in the grass when it "rides" by. Since, the snake looks like "a Whip lash / Unbraiding in the Sun," it doesn’t necessarily have to be a giant snake. Still, if someone was to stumble upon a snake so unexpectedly I guarantee that it would make a person panic and chill them to the bone. The description of the creature as a ‘’narrow fellow’’ demonstrates to us that colloquial language is being used, which, to some extent gives us a visual image of the snakes movement as it rides along. Elsewhere in the poem, visual imagery works just as well, for instance, when the snake looks to the poet much like a "Whip lash / Unbraiding in the Sun," the image is both aural and visual. It is as though, when motionless, the creature looks as if it were "unbraiding," which makes us almost immediately start to imagine the movement of the snake being similar to the unravelling/lashing out of a whip. The poem begins with a description of the shock of encountering a snake. Although again, the poem’s speaker still never actually uses the word “snake,” the scene is recognizable enough for us to relate to it. The snake is almost magical as it moves, ghost-like, through the tall grass as we see in the line: ‘’the grass divides as with a

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