The Swan, the Bear and the Grasshopper
These creatures symbolize the wonder of creation. The poem with a series of questions that narrow in topic while adhering to the same topic. The first question asked who created the word, followed by who created swans and bears, and finally who made grasshoppers. All these creatures represent the mystery of creation. It is significant that they very starkly vary in size. From the enormity of the ferocious bear, to one of the largest fowls, down to the small grasshopper, the creatures specifically identified in the poem all connect to the opening line, suggesting that the existence of the smallest of entities is as miraculous and inexplicable as the universe itself.
Sugar
The sugar the grasshopper eats out of the hand of the speaker symbolizes the connection between the animal creatures of the world and its human inhabitants. That the grasshopper and the speaker both share a state for the sweetness of the sugar is a common bond. This bond is intensified by the visceral connection made by the grasshopper eating directly from the speaker’s hand.
Jaws
Although connected as creatures sharing the same world, the manner in which the jaws of the grasshopper vary from humans symbolizes how we are also significantly different. The speaker notices specifically that while eating the sugar, the jaws of the insect move back and forth horizontally rather than in the vertical up and down motion that is more familiar. This represents a significant anatomical divergence since not only humans eat with jaws moving up and down, but most of the animals we keep as pets. We are used to this motion so therefore a sideways motion would seem quite unnatural. And yet, of course, it is perfectly natural for the grasshopper. The lesson is that “natural” is not synonymous with everything doing things in exactly the same way.
Complicated Eyes
The eyes of the grasshopper becomes a symbol of the complexity of the natural world that underscores the fallacy of viewing things too simply. The poem presents an image of the speaker looking at the grasshopper and the grasshopper looking at the speaker. The speaker describes the eyes as enormous, which would be quite relatively considering the size of a grasshopper. She also describes them as complicated. This could be interpreted as a literal description of the anatomical structure of the eyes, but it might well be more figurative. The speaker may see in those big eyes a mirror of herself as a member of one species sizing up a member of another which is examining her with the same sort of scrutiny with which she is examining the insect. The symbolism in this case suggests that it may be unwise to dismiss the idea that other creatures don’t look at us with the same curiosity as we look at them.
Wings
The grasshopper suddenly opens her wings and takes to flight and in that instant the wings become a symbol of the unpassable gap existing between creatures of the world. The grasshopper may enjoy sugar just like a human. The grasshopper and human both have eyes and jaws that perform the same function even if they structured in completely different ways. Just like the black bear can soar like a swan, however, humans cannot open their wings and float away. This is the point at which all similarity between the speaker and the grasshopper comes to an end. All creatures great and small may share the same world and many features, but ultimately there are differences between species which cannot be bridged. That that does not the life of any single creature less precious than another, however, since in the end the one thing shared absolutely is that we only get one shot.
