A bird came down to walk
... tetrameter means there are four stresses. Meter plays a very important role in poems because it gives the poet another tool to help convey the feeling of the poem. Dickinson used this metrical pattern to convey to the reader that the bird did not feel natural on the ground. The meter forces the poem to be read very jumpy and quick, much like how a bird acts while on the ground. Even though the bird is on the ground for a short amount time it still acts cautiously because its natural habitat is in the sky. And the he drank a Dew From a convenient Grass– And then hopped sidewise to the Wall To let a Beetle pass– When the bird finally flies away the poem's flow mimics that of a flying bird, very calm and free "And he unrolled his feathers / And rowed him softer home–". She describes a birds flight like rowing in an ocean, but without all the splashing of the oars. In the first two stanza of the poem she rhymes the second and fourth lines of the quatrain. A Bird came down the Walk– He did not know I saw– He bit an Angleworm in halves And ate the fellow, raw, She uses this rhyme scheme to show that the bird is not frightened yet and has not noticed her presence. Then she switches to half-rhymes to covey that the bi...