Turner, Layne 1

McLeod Turner, Carney Layne

English IB

Mr. Anderson

5/29/10

Comparing and Contrasting

“A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”
And
“Southbound on the Freeway”

Poetry, although a form of literature that can be difficult to comprehend, has many

different elements.—even when the poem only consists of a few lines.! But many poems are

also different and, of course, similar in these elements. Poetic authors use these elements in both

similar and different ways as other poets. The poem is impacted greatly depending on how the

author uses the elements. To show this we have chosen the poems An example of two poems

which makesproves this plausible are “Southbound on the Freeway” written by May Swenson in

1963, and “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass.” ” bBy Emily Dickenson in 1865 to compare and

contrast. TheSome differences in these poems reside in their usage of fFigures of speech (FOS),

tTone, mMeter, and Iimagery.; Theand a few similarities are in the way they exercise the

elements of Imagery, aAlliteration, and oOnomatopoeia.

First off, the poems “Southbound on the Freeway” uses the element imagery both

different and similarly as “Theand “The Narrow Fellow in The Grass.” Both use imagery the

same way. For example, they both use the senses to compliment imagery by utilizing touch, and

sight. In May Swenson’s poem, it uses touch in line 23: “Those soft shapes,” and in Emily

Dickinson’s poem, we see the usage of touch sensory details in line 10: “A floor to cool for

corn.” These lines of touching imagery gives us a physical feeling of what Dickinson and

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Swenson were feelling when they wrote their poems; thus transferring the same feeling to us

while we read. This is clearly an example of touch sensory because, for example Swenson says

“Those soft shapes” and we all know that we can only experience what soft is if we touch it!

This is the same for Dickinson’s poem “A floor to cool for corn.” We all know what “cool” feels

like because we have felt cool;. can only know that a floor is to cool for corn if we literally have

touched the floor! Thus Provingproving the similarities of sensory details between these two

poems.

One way in which “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” and “Southbound on the Freeway”

are different from each other is in their usage ofwith the element of figures of speech (FOS). In

Dickinson’s poem an example of FOS is in line 5: “The grass divides as with a comb.” This is

classified as a simile, which is a form of a FOS. A simile is when one thing is compared to

another by the use of the words as, like, than, and resembles. In line 5 of “A Narrow Fellow in

the Grass” it uses the word “as” when comparing two different things; therefore it is a simile. In

Swenson’s poem the example of FOS is on line 11: “they have four eyes.” This is a form of FOS

called personification. A Ppersonification is when you apply human characteristics to something

inhuman; just like in line 11 in “Southbound on the Freeway.” In Dickinson’s poem when it says

“The grass divides as with a comb” this helps you visualize what is going on. It tells you

whatever it is dividing the grass is not some wild troll blundering through the grass because

when most people think of someone combing something they think of the silent comb slowly

brushing hair, so it isn’t something loud and boisterous. In Swenson's poem we see that the

person is examining things. This gives us as readers the same feeling the person has in the poem

—the feeling of learning. In “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” FOS is used to show us what is

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happening and in “Southbound on the Freeway” FOS is used to help us feel the poem.

Therefore the use of FOS is different from one to the other.

Another thing that is different in both poems is the use of rhythm. “Southbound on the

Freeway” consists of thirteen stanzas of two lines each. It is written in free verse, meaning that

there is no consistent rhyme scheme or rhythm pattern. The short stanzas give the poem a look of

simplicity, suitable for children’s poetry because it requires less attention span. After the first

stanza, the poem becomes a monologue by the “tourist from Orbitville,” giving the tourist’s

observations of life on earth’s freeways. The poem frequently uses the technique of enjambment,

placing significant words instead of punctuation at the ends of lines, to draw attention to those

words. The monologue is structured in small, simple words, using familiar images and

sometimes using slang. “The Narrow Fellow in the Grass” is written in iambic tetrameter. The

rhythm in the first stanza captures the movement of the snake and the speaker’s reaction to it.

The first two lines are enjambed creating a smoothly flowing line of seven iambic feet. The

rhythm of this line captures the smooth flowing movement of the snake as it moves through the

grass. This rhythm is contrasted with the short, choppy phrases of the next two lines which

mirror the speaker’s reaction to the snake. The inverted sentence pattern of the last line gives

emphasis to the suddenness of the snake’s appearance. The repetition of the “s” sound captures

the sound of the snake while the repetition of the long “o” sound and the “no” sound reveal the

speaker’s negative reaction. Finally, the half rhyme between “rides” and “is” emphasizes the “s”

sound of the snake rather than the speaker’s completed thought, an effect that emphasizes the

speaker’s startled reaction. The rhythm of this first stanza establishes the contrast between the

“denotative” snake and the speaker’s “connotative” snake. Southbound on the Freeway’s”

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rhythm is used to make it an easier and lighthearted read, while “A Narrow Fellow in the

Grass’s” rhythm is used to help you once again see the poem.

There is another component for fine poetry is alliteration—,alliteration, which is two words close

beside each other that start with the same consonants. We find an archetype of this in

Dickinson’s poem onin line 10: “A floor too cool for corn.” In Swenson’s poem, there is one in

line 7: “Their feet are round and roll.” ……………………………………This similar usage of

such an element causes these poems to really come alive and makes it catchy to read.

AnotherAnother difference in these poems areis in their use of tone. Although tone can’t

be decided by any formal procedure, tone must be found by a reader’s interpretation. In

“Southbound on the Freeway” we believe that the tone is that of a confused and uncertain style.

We can perceive this by reading a few lines such as 25 and 26: “the hard bodies—are they their

guts or their brains.” In “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” we” we see thatsee that there is a

curious,curious and scared unsure tone. This is in lines 21-24. “But never met this fellow,

attended or alone, with out tighter breathing, and zero at the bone.” The fact that the narrator has

never seen this thing proves that the author wishes for that of a curious tone. The words “tighter

breathing” and Zero at the bone” tells us it has a frightened tone. In “Southbound on the

Freeway”, because there is question of whether the parts are this things guts or brains verifies

that there is some confusion with the narrator. Unsurprisingly these differnacesdifferences give

these poems a unique and interesting read.

A fun and entertaining stem of poetry writing is onomatopoeia. Both poems, “A Narrow

Fellow in the Grass” and Southbound on the Freeway" use onomatopoeia in the same way. In

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“Southbound on the Freeway” in line 21: “They all hiss as they glide,” this is an example of

onomatopoeia because we know that the word “hiss” is not a word with a literal meaning but a

word that when said sounds like the sound it is describing—Which is the definition of

onomatopoeia. And in “A Narrow Fellow in the grass on line13: “Have passed, I thought, a

whip-lash.” In both poems the use onomatopoeia to give you sensory details; in “Southbound on

the freeway” it uses it to help you hear, and in “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” it uses it to help

you see the poem.

The last example of a differnancedifference in elements used is the meter in which these poems

were written. First, in Swenson’s poem we see that it is a free verse poem, although most lines

several of the lines tend to be more Anapestic than anything. This gives the reader an easy read.

But in Dickinson’s poem it is true that it is written in a tetraIambic meter were there is unstressed

stressed syllable. This meter giveThis meter helps us visualize the snakes movements. These

differnacesdifferences in elements are differences that give them a unique feel to it.

Collaborative

These poems are very different and, at the same time, very alike in their ability to help us

visualize the senses their use of FOS in clever and many different ways. Also , their utilization

of alliteration making the poetry come alive! And , tThe tone! The thing that makes the poetry

unique and, emotional, and gives it character. Plus, how could we forget the element of

onomatopoeia—the -the word that sounds like what it iis, sand! mMeter, the thing that keeps the

poetry organized and consistent.it is through elements like these, and many others, that we can

see that poems both alike and different.—all the things making a poem what it is! Proving that

although some poems have some things that another doesn’t, or one that has the same as the

other, it’s what makes a a poem a poempoetry.

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Dickinson, Emily. “The Narrow Fellow in the Grass.” Elements of Literature: Third Course.

Ed. Kathleen Daniel. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003.

Swenson, May. “Southbound on the Freeway.” Elements of Literature: Third Course.

Ed. Kathleen Daniel. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003.

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