Summary
The first half of the poem introduces the reader to the "narrow fellow in the grass," a snake. The speaker describes the snake's appearance, quietly cutting a path through the blades of grass, close to the feet of passersby. He also details the cool, "boggy" floor that the snake is drawn to. The section ends with the speaker kicking off a boyhood reminiscence of one of his encounters with this creature.
Analysis
In the first three stanzas, the speaker sets up a depiction of a snake. As the poem progresses, it portrays its titular subject as both stealthy and frightening. The speaker hinges this characterization on the strength of his vivid memories of initially sighting the snake as a boy. As with many of Dickinson's poems, "A narrow Fellow in the Grass" deals with specific experiences providing a window into the larger world of nature and its secrets.
The first line of the poem ("A narrow Fellow in the Grass") creates a solid image of the snake without giving it a proper name. The speaker then describes the way it "Occasionally rides," before addressing the reader directly ("You may have met him") and asking if they are familiar with this animal. The speaker also says the snake is instantly noticeable ("Did you not / His notice instant is -"). This first stanza builds slowly, offering glimpses of the snake without being overt. The address to the reader works in tandem with this approach, making the animal's identity into a kind of guessing game. The word "fellow" also implies a certain levity in the speaker's view of the snake—a tone that will shift as the poem continues. This playfulness gives way to a more fleshed-out description of the "narrow fellow" in the second stanza. The speaker depicts the grass rustling and parting ("The Grass divides as with a Comb") as the snake makes itself almost imperceptibly apparent ("A spotted Shaft is seen"). The reader is then involved more viscerally as the speaker shows the snake's progress, brushing past "your Feet" as the grass "opens further on." The speaker treads carefully, demonstrating an admiration for the snake's craftiness and stealth while still being slightly unnerved by the closeness of its presence. These feelings are closely connected, as it is the snake's slyness that makes it both impressive and unnerving.
The third stanza closes the earlier description and sets up the speaker's more personal perception of the snake. The first two lines ("He likes a Boggy Acre - / A Floor too cool for Corn -") comment on the "cool" environment that the snake prefers to traverse. The speaker then identifies himself and begins a recollection of an earlier instance in which he saw the snake: "But when a Boy and Barefoot / I more than once at Noon." Dickinson's use of the word "barefoot" intimates the speaker's vulnerability, something already implied by his childhood perspective. If the previous two stanzas serve as a more general summary of the snake's attributes, then the third functions as a shift into new thematic territory. The speaker has given this portrait a more weighted significance, as it is colored by his own experience and memory.
While animals and nature were common themes for Dickinson's poems, this one makes a distinct use of tension. Dickinson withholds exact details and slowly unfurls descriptions about the snake to keep the reader in mounting suspense. These evasive strategies serve the content well as the snake's main characteristic is its slipperiness. The speaker's memory of encountering the snake is framed as a kind of revelation. Up until this point, the poem has made the snake seem almost mythically mysterious.
