A BIRD CAME

DOWN THE WALK

-Emily Dickinson-
A Bird, came down the Walk
By: Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk -
He did not know I saw -
He bit an Angle Worm 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 Questions

1. Write the rhyme scheme of the poem.

2. Introduce five literary techniques you found in the poem.
3. What is the theme of the poem as you think?
4. Why is the bird shown as a human in the poem?
5. What qualities of the bird are described in 2nd stanza?
6. What qualities of the bird are described in last stanza?
7. What is the major poetic devices you find in 3rd stanza?
Write the examples too.
8. What does the action of the man suggest in the poem?
Answers

1. ABAB
2. Personification, simile, metaphor, assonance,
alliteration
3. Man’s interference with nature/ Man tries to tame nature/
Nature is self-sufficient
4. to show the etiquette it possesses like humans
5. Its etiquettes/ consuming resources only to fulfill the
needs
6. Swiftness/ leaving no traces behind
7. Simile - like frightened Beads
8. When man interferes, the natural order is disturbed.
Emily Dickinson (Lady in White)

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)

was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has
since been regarded as one of the most important figures
in American poetry.

Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts into a prominent

family with strong ties to its community. After studying at
the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she briefly
attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning
to her family's house in Amherst.
Evidence suggests that Dickinson lived much of her life in isolation.
Considered an eccentric by locals, she developed a penchant for white
clothing and was known for her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life,
to even leave her bedroom. Dickinson never married, and most
friendships between her and others depended entirely upon
correspondence.

While Dickinson was a prolific writer, her only publications during her
lifetime were 10 of her nearly 1,800 poems, and one letter. The poems
published then were usually edited significantly to fit conventional poetic
rules. Her poems were unique for her era. They contain short lines,
typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional
capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of
death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends, and
also explore aesthetics, society, nature and spirituality.
Summary
Emily Dickinson, a great American poet, wrote ‘A Bird,
Came Down the Walk’. It is a famous thought-
provoking composition of natural beauty. The bird is
also addressed as a human, especially a male that
makes the poem more relatable. The poem speaks
about a tiny bird that comes down to the earth to satisfy
his hunger. It also illustrates how he reacts carefully to
his environment. The poem explores the human
connection with the natural world.
As a Representative of Nature: This poem is about
the speaker’s interaction with a bird that comes down in search
of food. The poem begins when the speaker scrutinizes a bird
moving along the pathway. Unaware about the surroundings,
the bird catches a worm, cuts it into pieces, and devours it.
Also, he drinks dewdrops from the grass, then slowly
hops aside to let the beetle pass. The bird, fearful, looks around
quickly with rapid eyes. Both the speaker and the bird are trying
to surmount their fears because the bird is walking in a strange
land and the narrator is on his path. The speaker gently offers
him a crumb, but, instead of taking, he unrolled his feathers and
takes his flight back home. The speaker notices his departure
and elegantly describes his casual walk.
Major Themes

Nature’s beauty, human connection

with nature, and self-consciousness
are the major themes of this poem. At
first glance, the poem seems simply
about a bird that comes down to
satisfy his hunger and departs gently
without bringing any harm to the
earth.
On a deeper level, the poem explains the inner self-conscious
nature of man versus bird. Normally, nature acts as a mother that
provides comfort to every living creature. However, here, it
frightens the bird and leaves the speaker shy. Keeping the fear of
being caught in mind, the bird walks away whereas the writer’s
interaction with the bird is also somewhat suspenseful.

The poem shows how nature sustains smoothly without

damaging the natural beauty. The bird mingling with its
comfortable zone creates no stir in the environment but
enhances its beauty. Hence, it is out duty of to not intervene the
natural order of the nature as it can only harm the nature and not
a help.
 Literary Devices
1.Assonance:
-The sound of /o/ in ‘And rowed him softer Home’
-The sound of /i/ in ‘They looked like frightened Beads, I thought’.
2.Alliteration:
-The sound of /l/ in ‘They looked like frightened Beads, I thought’.
3.Consonance:
-The sound of /d/ in ‘And then hopped sidewise to the Wall’ and
the sound of /n/ in ‘And then, he drank a Dew’.
4.Enjambment:
“And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass.”
5.Visual Imagery:
-“A Bird, came down the Walk”, “He bit an Angle Worm in halves”
and “I offered him a Crumb.”
6.Metaphor:
-The bird’s head is compared with velvet in the last line of the
third stanza, ‘He stirred his Velvet Head’.
-The final stanza is metaphorical.
oars divide the ocean – bird opening up its feathers to enter the
blue sky/ Too silver for a seam (seam less, leaving no mark)
7.Rhyme scheme:
The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme and this pattern
continues till the end.
7.Personification:
-The bird is personified throughout the poem.
-The poetess uses ‘he’ instead of ‘it’ in the following verses,
‘He bit an Angle Worm in halves’, ‘And he unrolled his feathers’,
‘And rowed him softer Home’.
8.Simile:
-Bird’s eyes are compared with beads in ‘They looked like
frightened Beads, I thought’.
9.Symbolism:
-Crumb (industrialization)
-Biting the angle worm in halves (cruelty of nature)