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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SNAKE by EMILY DICKINSON

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: A NARROW FELLOW IN THE GRASS
Last Line: AND ZERO AT THE BONE.
Subject(s): ANIMALS; SNAKES; SERPENTS; VIPERS;

A narrow Fellow in the Grass
Occasionally rides --
You may have met Him, -- did you not
His notice sudden 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 --
Yet when a Boy, and Barefoot --
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip lash
Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of Nature's People
I know, and thy 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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