Life is full of experiences. Times that you would never want to relive, times that you would, and times that have taught you valuable lessons. When Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote “Sympathy,” a poem of understanding about how someone imprisoned feels, and when Emily Dickinson composed “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass”, a poem of warning, they were writing about their past life experiences and how they felt about them. “Sympathy” and “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” are vastly different from each other when it comes to rhyme, tone, symbol, and message, but find common ground when it comes to imagery.

To begin, rhyme is a contrasting factor in these poems. In Dunbar’s there is a very distinct rhyming in the end of the lines. You can clearly see this in the end of the lines in the first stanza. “Alas!” (1), “Slopes” (2), “Grass” (3), “Glass” (4), “Opes” (5), “Steals” (6), “Feels” (7). When reading the full sentences, the rhyming is clear, and is going in the pattern ABAABCC. This pattern continues throughout the other two stanzas in the poem. On the other hand, Dickinson’s poem holds a consonance rhyme. Notice the end words in the first stanza, “Grass” (1), “Rides” (2), “Not” (3), “Is” (4), and how they all end in consonants. Since there is no repetition of stressed vowel sounds in these words, but a repetition of consonants, Dickinson’s use of consonance is not closely related to the rhyme used in Dunbar’s composition. The vast difference in rhyme is only one of many between these unique poems.

Tone is yet another factor that sets these two poems apart. “Sympathy” has a tone of enlightenment and understanding, while “Narrow Fellow” has a tone that shifts throughout the poem. Dunbar uses the phrases, “I know what the caged bird feels!” (7), “I know why he beats his wings!” (14), and “I know why the caged bird sings!” (21), at the end of each stanza. These lines show that the person in the poem finally understands something that he’s never understood, and he’s excited about it. Dickinson’s poem has a much different tone that begins happy and then dramatically shifts to eerie when the poem concludes. Take a line from the beginning of the poem, “A narrow fellow in the grass/ Occasionally rides” (1-2), and compare it to the last stanza, “But never met this fellow, / Attended or alone, / Without a tighter breathing, / And zero at the bone” (21-24). This poem may give the reader, at first, an impression, of a happy and light poem, but leaves them feeling completely different by the end. Tone is clearly another element that these poems do not have in common.

Symbol is a third, differing aspect of these two poems. Dunbar’s poem holds a clear symbol of a caged bird, while Dickinson’s symbol isn’t as obvious. In “Sympathy,” the symbol of the caged bird is used in the first and last lines of every stanza. You can see this from the first line in the second stanza. “I know why the caged bird beats his wing” (8). After this, Dunbar presents some vivid images in the middle of the stanza, “Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; / For he must fly back to his perch and cling” (9-10), and ends the stanza by repeating, “I know why he beats his wings!” (14). This symbol seems to be used to represent someone who’s trapped, or imprisoned, and their expression of how they feel. “Narrow Fellow,” on the other hand, has a symbol that’s not as obvious. Dickinson begins the poem by saying, “A narrow fellow in the grass” (1). Later, she continues by describing the fellow.“He likes a boggy acre” (9), and that “It wrinkled and was gone” (16). Though she only mentions his “name” briefly in her poem, the symbol is the narrow fellow, which represents someone sneaky and looking to cause trouble. Obviously, symbolism is one more thing that can be added to the list of differences between these two poems.

The last characteristic that makes these poems unique is the message. In Dunbar’s composition the message seems to be: you can’t know what being imprisoned feels like without experiencing it yourself. The message can be clearly seen in the first line, “I know what the caged bird feels, alas!” (1). What Dunbar is saying is that he can finally relate to how someone imprisoned (the caged bird), feels. He continues with examples of how the caged bird feels about certain things in life, and continues to say that he also know why the caged bird beat his wings and why the caged bird sings. In contrast, Dickinson’s poem holds a completely different message. This poem seems to have the message: Never meet someone like the “snake,” but if you do be cautious and very aware. The message can be seen in the last stanza of the poem, after Dickinson has described the snake. “But never met this fellow, / Attended or alone, / Without a tighter breathing, / And zero at the bone” (21-24). Here Emily Dickinson is giving a warning by telling us how she felt when she met this “snake” even when she was accompanied by someone else. The message of these two poems is yet another aspect that shows how diverse they are from each other.

The only similarity found between Dunbar and Dickinson’s poem was the use of sight imagery. In “Sympathy,” sight imagery was used in every stanza and differed in tone as the poem progressed. This can be seen in line two, “Sun is bright on the upland slopes,” where the imagery is happy, and in line nine, “Till its blood is red on the cruel bars,” where the imagery is kind of creepy. This imagery lets the reader visualize what the author is talking about whether it’s a sunny day or a bloody prison. Dickinson’s poem also holds sight imagery which can be seen in line nine, “He likes a boggy acre,” and in lines thirteen through fourteen, “A whip-lash, / unbraiding in the sun.” This imagery gives you an image of the subject in Dickinson’s poems and its possible characteristics. Even though these poems are so different from each other, there is indeed a similarity.
In closing, “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” by Emily Dickinson are two poems that, although have a similarity, are vastly different from each other. In Dunbar’s poem there is a very distinct pattern and rhyming sound while there is only consonance found in Dickinson’s. Tone also makes these poems unique from each other. “Sympathy” has an understanding kind of tone, while “Narrow Fellow” has a bipolar tone. In addition the symbols in these poems are very different. Dunbar’s composition has a clear symbol of a caged bird, while Dickinson’s doesn’t hold a clear symbol. Even the message differs between these poem. In “Sympathy,” the message is understanding something after you’ve been in ones shoes, and in Dickinson’s the message is a warning. The only real similarity found was the use of sight imagery. All poems can be different, but if you can dig past the technical differences, you can see that they all have one very special thing that connects them all. An experience.

Works Cited

Dunbar, Paul L. "Sympathy." Elements of Literature: Third Course. Ed. Kathleen Daniel. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2003.

Dickinson, Emily. "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass." Elements of Literature: Third Course. Ed. Kathleen Daniel. Austin: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 2003