A Bird Came Down the Walk by Emily Dickinson | Structure, Summary, Analysis
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. A Bird Came Down the Walk is a poem by Emily Dickinson that was published posthumously in 1891. It is a typical Dickinson poem in which she used imagery, symbolism, and her signature rhyme scheme and meter to explore the themes of nature. She used the symbol of the bird is used to represent nature's simultaneous beauty and brutality. Dickinson wrote 'A Bird, came down the Walk' in 1862, following a decade in her life that had been full of death. Her cousin, Sophia Holland, and friend, Benjamin Franklin Newton, had both died as had her close companion Reverend Charles Wadsworth. Dickinson’s mother had also become bedridden with illness during the 1850s, requiring the care of her daughters.
Structure of A Bird Came Down the Walk:
The poem is 20 lines long, composed in five quatrains or stanzas. Each quatrain follows a loose rhyming scheme of ABCB and the poet rhythmically breaks up the meter with long dashes. Dickinson used her signature iambic trimeter and occasional tetrameter feet in the lines of the poem. The dashes serve a relatively limited function, occurring only at the end of lines, and indicating slightly longer pauses at line breaks. The major strength of the poem lies in the Imagery. The poet takes the reader to a whole new world of watching the action of a bird. She does so with the help of her writing, making the readers observe the actions of the bird in their minds by picturizing the whole scene as if the bird is in front of them. The bird represents Death and the poem as a whole is a Metaphor. In addition, Emily used Alliteration, Enjambment, Juxtaposition, Simile, and Personification (of the bird).
Summary of A Bird Came Down the Walk:
Stanza 1 Lines 1-4
“A Bird, came down the Walk -
He did not know I saw -
He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,”
The poet describes the simple, yet beautiful movements of a bird that is coming down the Walk. The poetess is probably talking about a sidewalk or a path near her home or where she is situated, from where she could observe this bird. While the speaker is observing the bird, the bird is unaware of being observed. The poetess is careful enough not to frighten the bird or startle him. Emily Dickinson personifies the bird by using the adjective ‘He’ for the bird. The poetess indicates the intervening interactions of men with nature. Birds are often wary of human beings and will not behave the same way if they are aware that they are being watched. The whole scene appears naturally beautiful but nature is brutal too. The speaker notices that the bird finds a worm, and eats it raw, biting it in half. To accentuate the brutality, the poetess notifies the worm as an ‘Angel Worm’.
Stanza 2 Lines 5-8
“And then, he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass -
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass -”
The bird continues to amaze the speaker as she observes that the bird is drinking the “Dew” from the grass. It doesn’t have to go anywhere else to find water, making the “Dew” and “Grass” “convenient.” The bird’s life is shown as a simple movement from need to need. Then the bird sees the beetle and hops sidewise to let the beetle crawl past. These two creatures may appear simple to the reader, but just a while ago, the bird ‘bit an Angle Worm in halves’. Unlike the worm the bird killed and ate, it let the beetle go away undisturbed. One may assume the beetle’s death is yet not imminent. The poetess continues using Caesura by using Dashes.
Stanza 3 Lines 9-12
“He glanced with rapid eyes,
That hurried all abroad -
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,
He stirred his Velvet Head. -“
The speaker continues to study the bird with a keen interest as if trying to understand the inner feelings of the bird, as if trying to live the life of that bird herself. The speaker notices that the bird is anxious, and alert as it looks around “with rapid eyes.” The bird’s eyes move quickly, “all abroad,” trying to see everything at once. The bird is very on edge and aware of the variety of dangers it might face.
The eyes of the bird are probably black and as they move hurriedly in the bird’s eye sockets, the speaker feels as if they are like ‘frightened Beads.’ At this moment, the bird becomes aware that it is being observed, and this scarce the bird. The bird stirs its “Velvet Head” to look towards the poet. Dickinson used the word ‘Velvet’ to express the grand stature of the bird and how loving it appears.
Stanza 4 Lines 13-16
“Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers,
And rowed him softer Home -”
The speaker notices the bird is scared of her as it appears ‘Cautious.’ The speaker didn’t wish to startle the bird, she loved to observe the bird quietly. But now when the bird appears frightened and cautious, the poet tries to calm the bird down and shows a friendly gesture by offering “him a crumb” of food. The bird isn’t interested though, rather the bird feels as if the poet is intruding on his privacy and instinctively, the bird flies away, as if protecting itself. However, the process is not as straightforward as the poetess observes, it is rather delicate and beautiful. The bird “unrolled his feathers,” and as each feather passes her by in all its “Velvet” beauty, the poetess admires the bird. The bird flies away to the sky, going towards his home, wherever it is. However, the speaker uses a metaphor to suggest that the bird “rowed,” comparing the sky with water. The comparison between a bird’s flight and sailing in water appears.
Stanza 5 Lines 17-20
“Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam,
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim.”
The poet continues to describe the flight of the bird and she continues with the metaphor, comparing the bird’s flight in the sky with movement in water. The speaker observes how the bird’s wings move through the air and compares that movement to “Oars divid[ing] the Ocean.” An Oar is a long pole with a broad blade at one end used for propelling or steering a boat.
The speaker further beautifies the bird and compares it to a butterfly that takes off from the “Banks of Noon” in the heat of the day. It jumps and moves and “splashes” through the air.
When someone moves and jumps through the water, the movement creates splashes. However, the movement of the bird is soft like that of a butterfly moving without causing any ruffles or splashes. The poet continues the metaphor by comparing the bird’s flight to movement in the water as if the bird swimming in the sky without causing any stir, ruffles, and splashes. In the first line of the 5th Quatrain, Dickinson used Alliteration while repeating the letter ‘o’ (Oars, Ocean) and in the second line, the letter ‘s’ (Silver, Seam) is repeated.
In the last lines, Dickinson used Enjambment to express the flight of the bird, showing how the bird's actions are more fluid when it is flying. In addition, the poetess used Simile, Butterflies, off Banks of Noon, / Leap, plashless as they swim,' to describe the beautiful flight of the bird.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of American English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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