诗歌赏析 I See A Bird Came down the Walk

I See A Bird Came down the Walk

In the poem A Bird Came down the Walk, it shows us a vivid picture of nature in front of us. The speaker observes the bird and tries to establish contact with the bird by offering it food. The bird flies off. A few of the speaker's details describe the bird as a wild creature in nature, and more details present his behavior and his appearance in terms of human behavior. In stanza 1, since the bird does not know the speaker is present, he behaves naturally, that is, his behavior is not affected by her presence. We see the bird's "wildness" or non-humanness in his biting the worm in half and eating it. "Raw" continues to emphasize his wildness. Ironically, he word "raw" carries an implication of civilized values and practices. In stanza 2, the birds' alliteration suggests a certain refinement, and "from a grass" makes the action resemble the human action of drinking from a glass. And the bird politely allows a beetle to pass. In stanza 3,the first two lines describes the bird's looking around is factual description and suggests the bird's caution and fear. In the last two lines, the speaker describes the bird in terms of civilization, with "beads" and "velvet." In stanza 4, the idea of danger in nature is made explicit but remains a minor note in this stanza and in the poem. It occupies only half a line, "Like one in danger." And one of the characteristics of Dickinson's poetry is a tendency to drop endings as well as connecting words and phrases; you have to decide whether she has dropped the -ly ending from "cautious."

I think that this poem reveals both the danger and the beauty of nature. The author gives us a vivid picture in having the narrator see the bird in "civilized" terms, which has gave us a deep impression.