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Emily DickinsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The poem dramatizes a paranoiac fear of some aspects of nature—that is, the fear of being deceived or losing control. In the speaker’s eyes, the very body of the snake is constructed to move in a way that instills fear and uncertainty: The snake is undetectable until the very last moment, just prior to a surprise encounter. The speaker’s rationalist side copes with this fear by enlisting the ideals of 19th century scientific observation, collecting data about snake behavior, diurnality, appearance, and habitats. His literary side attempts to bridge the divide between animal and human, painting the snake as a rider and someone adept with combs—similes that try to make its movements closer to those of people. However, the speaker cannot ever fully be at ease when encountering a snake. Instead, seeing one unleashes unfounded, involuntary terror, which makes it clear that he can never dissociate this animal from its biblical cognate, the serpent from the Garden of Eden, who tempted Eve and Adam to taste the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil—an action that forced God to expel them from paradise.
The poem thus contains anxiety about the ability to subjugate nature by valuing humanity over the non-human—an idea that undergirded the history of the US.
By Emily Dickinson
A Bird, came down the Walk
A Bird, came down the Walk
Emily Dickinson
A Clock stopped—
A Clock stopped—
Emily Dickinson
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Emily Dickinson
"Faith" is a fine invention
"Faith" is a fine invention
Emily Dickinson
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Fame Is a Fickle Food (1702)
Emily Dickinson
Hope is a strange invention
Hope is a strange invention
Emily Dickinson
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
"Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
I Can Wade Grief
I Can Wade Grief
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
I Felt a Cleaving in my Mind
Emily Dickinson
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
I Felt a Funeral, in My Brain
Emily Dickinson
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking
Emily Dickinson
If I should die
If I should die
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the fall
If you were coming in the fall
Emily Dickinson
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
I heard a Fly buzz — when I died
Emily Dickinson
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?
Emily Dickinson
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Much Madness is divinest Sense—
Emily Dickinson
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Success Is Counted Sweetest
Emily Dickinson
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Tell all the truth but tell it slant
Emily Dickinson
The Only News I Know
The Only News I Know
Emily Dickinson
There is no Frigate like a Book
There is no Frigate like a Book
Emily Dickinson