He bit an Angle Worm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,
These two lines in the opening of the poem are notable for the way they twist a familiar image. A bird eating a worm is a commonplace scene in nature. But here, because of Dickinson's word choice, this image is so much more disturbing. The worm is split in "halves" and eaten "raw." Dickinson even briefly personifies the worm with the use of the term "fellow." The visceral intensity of this scene characterizes the bird as murderous and frightening. The harshness with which Dickinson writes this moment is almost comparable to the opening of a police procedural. The speaker appears to be recounting the details of a violent crime.
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought,
He stirred his Velvet Head. —
These lines modify the speaker's earlier portrayal of the bird. Where before she is frightened by its brutality, she now takes note of the fear she sees in its eyes. Showing the bird in this different frame offers a rebuttal to the initial chill of that first scene. There is also the use of tailoring terminology with the words "beads" and "velvet head," giving the third stanza a slightly gentler feeling. The speaker is offering a complication of her image of the bird. This moment also creates some sympathy for the bird in the speaker. In perceiving it as frightened, she recognizes that there is some connection between the bird and herself. The bird is not simply a cold-blooded killer of worms.
Like one in danger,
Cautious, I offered him a Crumb,
In the fourth stanza, the speaker becomes an active participant in the events of the poem. She holds on to some of her fear from the opening, but shows some trepidatious respect in offering the bird a "crumb" as a sort of tribute. The phrase "like one in danger," and the word "cautious," especially elucidates her sense of unease. However, her choice to engage with the bird (and be perceived by it) marks a transition in her understanding of what the bird is and how it makes her feel. These lines are also noteworthy in the way that they precede the bird's takeoff into flight and the speaker's use of strongly metaphorical language. It is almost as if this gesture marks the moment in which the speaker understands that she has not and cannot fully comprehend this bird.
