Emily Dickinson

A narrow Fellow in the Grass

Summary


"A narrow Fellow in the Grass" is a short poem that follows a barefoot boy through summer fields, where something slips through the grass like a parted comb. He mistakes a spotted shape for a whip lash drying in the sun, until it wrinkles and vanishes the moment he stoops to grab it. The speaker feels at ease with nature's creatures, yet this one brings a tightened breath and a shiver that settles deep inside.

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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 –

A barefoot boy startled by a spotted snake slipping through tall grass, illustrating A Narrow Fellow in the Grass.

Several of Nature’s 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.

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Credits

Emily Dickinson was a reclusive 19th-century American poet from Amherst, Massachusetts, known for her slant rhyme, dashes and unusual capitalization. She never names the snake in this poem, letting riddle-like description build the dread, and it was first printed in 1866, during her lifetime.