Poetry & Analysis
Selected Poems
Nature PoemsThe World Is Too Much with Us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.—Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Overview Short Summary
This sonnet criticizes people for becoming too absorbed in money and routine to feel nature’s power. It is especially strong for environment and nature poetry themes.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Nature and modern life: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- materialism: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- spiritual loss: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- sea imagery: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is urgent and disappointed, creating a mood of moral warning.
A Bird Came Down the Walk
A Bird came down the Walk—
He did not know I saw—
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,
And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass—
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass—
He glanced with rapid eyes
That hurried all abroad—
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought—
He stirred his Velvet Head
Like one in danger, Cautious,
I offered him a Crumb,
And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer Home—
Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon,
Leap, plashless as they swim.
Overview Short Summary
Dickinson observes a bird closely, showing both its ordinary hunger and its delicate beauty in flight. The poem is a strong example of short nature poetry with vivid imagery.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Birds: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- observation: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- wildness: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- beauty: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is curious and attentive, with a mood that moves from sharp realism to wonder.
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
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 Noon
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 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—
Overview Short Summary
The poem describes a snake without naming it directly. Its suspense and surprise make it useful for nature poems with literary devices and analysis.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Wild creatures: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- fear: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- mystery: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- nature’s hidden life: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is controlled and observant, but the mood becomes tense and chilling.
The Wind Tapped Like a Tired Man
The Wind tapped like a tired Man,
And like a Host, “Come in,”
I boldly answered; entered then
My Residence within
A Rapid, footless Guest,
To offer whom a Chair
Were as impossible as hand
A Sofa to the Air.
No Bone had He to bind Him,
His Speech was like the Push
Of numerous Humming Birds at once
From a superior Bush.
His Countenance a Billow,
His Fingers, if He pass,
Let go a music, as of tunes
Blown tremulous in Glass.
He visited, still flitting;
Then, like a timid Man,
Again He tapped—’twas flurriedly—
And I became alone.
Overview Short Summary
Dickinson imagines the wind as a strange guest visiting a house. The poem is a clear example of personification in nature poetry.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Wind: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- personification: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- mystery: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- home and nature: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is imaginative and slightly playful, while the mood feels strange and delicate.
There Came a Wind Like a Bugle
There came a Wind like a Bugle—
It quivered through the Grass
And a Green Chill upon the Heat
So ominous did pass
We barred the Windows and the Doors
As from an Emerald Ghost—
The Doom’s electric Moccasin
That very instant passed—
On a strange Mob of panting Trees
And Fences fled away
And Rivers where the Houses ran
Those looked that lived—that Day—
The Bell within the steeple wild
The flying tidings told—
How much can come
And much can go,
And yet abide the World!
Overview Short Summary
This poem captures the force of a storm as it arrives suddenly and disturbs the whole landscape. It works well for poems about wind, weather, and nature’s power.
Core Ideas Main Themes
- Storm: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- weather: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- danger: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
- nature’s force: This theme helps connect the poem’s natural image with its wider emotional or reflective meaning.
Emotional Effect Tone and Mood
The tone is dramatic and ominous, with a mood of alarm and awe.
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