The poem ‘A bird came down the Walk’ show the independence of nature. Do you agree. Discuss with examples from the poem. (A model answer to the question number 3 in the Model Question paper). Later you can download these answers from my O/L Literature website lithelp.yolasite.com. Good Luck!
In the poem “A bird came down the walk”, Emily Dickinson describes a seemingly insignificant series of events in the nature where a bird eats a worm, and then after drinking a drop of water from a blade of grass flies away gracefully. The only ‘outward’ act is the poet’s offering him a ‘crumb’ which is rejected by the bird. The poem amply illustrates the independence of nature with a sense of beauty.
The first act of independence of the bird who symbolizes nature in this poem is his eating a worm ‘raw’. The bird doesn’t want to be fed by the poet or anybody else. He can find his own food without the help of others. He also doesn’t want his food to be ‘cooked’ or processed and eat it in a ‘civiized’ manner. He just bit the work ‘in halves’ and ‘ate the fellow, raw’.
The bird’s act of drinking from ‘a convenient Grass’ also demonstrates his independence. Unlike the humans, the bird can find what he wants, in this case water, within a ‘convenient distance’. Further, his hopping ‘sidewise’ to enble a beetle to pass suggests the mutual respect and co-existance in the nature, which is somewhat lacking in the more sophisticated human society.
The bird’s action of looking around with ‘frightened eyes’ shows another aspect of nature: The need for survival. The instinct of fear drives the bird to take precautions against possible dangers. The poet, too, senses danger and offers him a crumb which he just ignores.
The sheer beauty and gracefullness of nature untampered by the humans come alive in all its glory in the admirable final stanza:
Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam—
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
Leap, plashless as they swim.
The bird flies so smoothly that he harmonizes itself perfectly with nature like ‘oars’ that do not leave any mark or ‘seam’ in the ‘silver’ ocean. He is also compared to the butterflies that ‘swim’ or fly without disturbing nature.
Thus, the poem ‘A bird came down the Walk’ beautifully captures the independence of nature using a microscopic incident involving a bird and the poet himself.