In Winter in My Room
poem 1670
In Winter in My Room - meaning Summary
Metamorphosis and Fear
The poem narrates a brief, uncanny encounter in which the speaker finds a harmless worm in her room, secures it, and later perceives a snake bearing the same string. The transformation unsettles her, provoking fear and flight across towns until she realizes it was a dream. Dickinson explores sudden metamorphosis, the porous boundary between domestic safety and wildness, and how imagination amplifies ordinary natural details into menace.
Read Complete AnalysesIn Winter in my Room I came upon a Worm Pink, lank and warm But as he was a worm And worms presume Not quite with him at home Secured him by a string To something neighboring And went along. A Trifle afterward A thing occurred I’d not believe it if I heard But state with creeping blood A snake with mottles rare Surveyed my chamber floor In feature as the worm before But ringed with power The very string with which I tied him too When he was mean and new That string was there I shrank How fair you are! Propitiation’s claw Afraid, he hissed Of me? No cordiality He fathomed me Then to a Rhythm Slim Secreted in his Form As Patterns swim Projected him. That time I flew Both eyes his way Lest he pursue Nor ever ceased to run Till in a distant Town Towns on from mine I set me down This was a dream.
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