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【Abstract】“A Narrow Fellow In The Grass” is one of many poems of Emily that deal with the subject of nature. In this poem， Emily’s complex feelings to snake are well exposed to the readers through the change of the tense and the tone of narrating， which suggests Emily’s complicated emotions to nature.
【Key words】A Narrow Fellow In The Grass 1; Emily Dickinson 2; Complex Emotions to Nature 3
【作者簡介】骆菀如（1989-），女，湖南司法警官职业学院教师，文学硕士，研究方向：英美文学、英语教学。
1. Preface
“A Narrow Fellow In The Grass” is one of the few poems which was published when Emily was still a live. And it is also one of many poems of Emily that deal with the subject of nature. Emily writes many poems about nature， which shows her deep love and appreciation to it. She calls the creatures in nature as “Forest Folk”（Dickinson， “A Fuzzy Fellow” 58）， or “Pretty people in the Woods” （Dickinson， “Bee” 38）. Many members of the forest folk are main characters in Emily’s poems， such as spider， frog， birds and butterfly. They are endowed with different human qualities. In this poem， there is no mention of snake， however， from the vivid descriptions， the readers can still get the image of it easily.
2. Contradictory feelings to snake
For Emily， she expressed her contradictory feelings to snake in this poem. On one hand， the speaker appreciates its beauty and calls it as him “fellow”. In these lines：
The Grass divides as with a Comb──
A spotted Shaft is seen──
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on── （5-8）
the snake is described so beautiful with its soft strength， quick speed and great sensitivity. When the speaker tried to “secure” it， it just was gone. It is always the experience that when you are catching something in your mind， but it suddenly disappears， at one time it will cover with mysterious veil which attracts you to appreciate and find it. It is the same with the experience of sudden meeting with the snake. The more it is mysterious， the more the speaker likes it and appreciates it.
On the other hand， “shaft” and “whip”， as metaphors of snake， suggest its hidden danger to humans. Probably， all of sudden， it will bite you， like a shaft stabbing you or a whip trashing you， and finally kill you， since it is a kind of poisonous creature. Generally， in western countries， snake is endowed with special religious significance， which means the evil. In Bible， Satan， disguising as a snake， induced Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. As result， Adam and Eve committed original sin and were driven off from paradise. So， snake always symbolizes the evil and the unknown danger. The danger both from its religious meaning and from the snake itself terrifies the speaker. Though the speaker loves snake and call it as fellow， because of its hidden danger to him， he is afraid of it at the same time. That also shows Emily’s complex feelings to snake. 3. Changing the tense and the tone of narrating
In this poem， in order to express her complicated emotions to snake， Emily ingeniously changes the tense and the tone of narrating， which helps increase the beauty of the poem. From the first stanze to the forth stanze， the speaker tells about the characteristics and habits of snake and recalls their sudden meeting in the grass when he was just a child. The tone is slack and relaxed which shows the love of speaker to snake. However， when it comes to the last stanze beginning with “but”， a sudden change happens：
But never met this Fellow
Attended， or alone
Without a tighter breathing
And zero at the Bone （13-16）
It is like a music changing sharply from the tender to the tense. The good impression on snake immediately disappears， but only a dread fear， which makes the speaker feel “zero at the Bone”， abruptly overwhelms him. The sudden change of tone in the poem well exposes Emily’s completely different feelings towards snake.
The tense also changes frequently in this poem. From the first stanze to the beginning of the second stanze， it is present， mainly talking about habits and characteristics of snake; while the remaining part of the second stanze is past tense，
【Key words】A Narrow Fellow In The Grass 1; Emily Dickinson 2; Complex Emotions to Nature 3
【作者簡介】骆菀如（1989-），女，湖南司法警官职业学院教师，文学硕士，研究方向：英美文学、英语教学。
1. Preface
“A Narrow Fellow In The Grass” is one of the few poems which was published when Emily was still a live. And it is also one of many poems of Emily that deal with the subject of nature. Emily writes many poems about nature， which shows her deep love and appreciation to it. She calls the creatures in nature as “Forest Folk”（Dickinson， “A Fuzzy Fellow” 58）， or “Pretty people in the Woods” （Dickinson， “Bee” 38）. Many members of the forest folk are main characters in Emily’s poems， such as spider， frog， birds and butterfly. They are endowed with different human qualities. In this poem， there is no mention of snake， however， from the vivid descriptions， the readers can still get the image of it easily.
2. Contradictory feelings to snake
For Emily， she expressed her contradictory feelings to snake in this poem. On one hand， the speaker appreciates its beauty and calls it as him “fellow”. In these lines：
The Grass divides as with a Comb──
A spotted Shaft is seen──
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on── （5-8）
the snake is described so beautiful with its soft strength， quick speed and great sensitivity. When the speaker tried to “secure” it， it just was gone. It is always the experience that when you are catching something in your mind， but it suddenly disappears， at one time it will cover with mysterious veil which attracts you to appreciate and find it. It is the same with the experience of sudden meeting with the snake. The more it is mysterious， the more the speaker likes it and appreciates it.
On the other hand， “shaft” and “whip”， as metaphors of snake， suggest its hidden danger to humans. Probably， all of sudden， it will bite you， like a shaft stabbing you or a whip trashing you， and finally kill you， since it is a kind of poisonous creature. Generally， in western countries， snake is endowed with special religious significance， which means the evil. In Bible， Satan， disguising as a snake， induced Eve to taste the forbidden fruit. As result， Adam and Eve committed original sin and were driven off from paradise. So， snake always symbolizes the evil and the unknown danger. The danger both from its religious meaning and from the snake itself terrifies the speaker. Though the speaker loves snake and call it as fellow， because of its hidden danger to him， he is afraid of it at the same time. That also shows Emily’s complex feelings to snake. 3. Changing the tense and the tone of narrating
In this poem， in order to express her complicated emotions to snake， Emily ingeniously changes the tense and the tone of narrating， which helps increase the beauty of the poem. From the first stanze to the forth stanze， the speaker tells about the characteristics and habits of snake and recalls their sudden meeting in the grass when he was just a child. The tone is slack and relaxed which shows the love of speaker to snake. However， when it comes to the last stanze beginning with “but”， a sudden change happens：
But never met this Fellow
Attended， or alone
Without a tighter breathing
And zero at the Bone （13-16）
It is like a music changing sharply from the tender to the tense. The good impression on snake immediately disappears， but only a dread fear， which makes the speaker feel “zero at the Bone”， abruptly overwhelms him. The sudden change of tone in the poem well exposes Emily’s completely different feelings towards snake.
The tense also changes frequently in this poem. From the first stanze to the beginning of the second stanze， it is present， mainly talking about habits and characteristics of snake; while the remaining part of the second stanze is past tense，