I enjoyed reading Emily Dickinson’s poem “The BAT is dun
with wrinkled wings” because she describes the bat as a positive creature. There
are people that see bats as being ugly, scary and sometime as pests, however I
enjoy having these creatures around and they do play an important role in
life. In Dickinson’s poem she discusses
how fascinating a bat is and that the creator of the bat should be praised and I
agree with her; bats are fascinating and important creatures.
In
Dickinson’s poem she goes into great length to describe the bat for what it is
and praise the creator of the creature.
She uses the first two stanzas just to describe how the bat looks and
how it flies. By describing the bat
looking, “dun with wrinkled wings,” means that the bat had wrinkled
brownish-grey wings. This can tell us that the bat that she is describing could
very well be one of the common brown bats that live in the area where she lived
because these bats have a brown fur, but yet their wings are more of a grayish
pigment to them. She also describes the
bats movement as, “Describing in the air an arc alike inscrutable, Elate philosopher,”
which shows her fascination of how bats don’t have a pattern when flying and
even philosophers wouldn’t be able to predict their movements. In the last third stanza Dickinson wonders
who designed the bat with stating, “Deputed from what firmament of what astute
abode,” and then states that the creator should be praised in the last stanza
with these two lines, “To his adroit Creator Ascribe no less the praise.” Showing that she appreciates that these
creatures were created and that the creator of these creatures should be
praised for creating such an interesting being.
I personally
grew up knowing bats where good creatures to have around and was fascinated by
these creatures. It was my father that
told me that they eat many of the mosquitoes which controls the population of mosquitoes
so there are less of them to bother us while we are outside. My
father even set up a few bat house so that more of them would stick
around. I also find bats very fascinating
to watch fling around on brighter nights.
The way they move is so swift that it is amazing that they can fly so
fast and change direction so quickly without normally running into anything. There are some bats I even find cute because
of how small and vulnerable they can be.
There
are many species of bats around the world and each of them play a very
important role in life; the world would be a very different place without them. About 1,300 species of bats consume insects
which includes some of the agricultural pests (batcon.org).
Bats control these populations so that not as many crops are damaged
which is a large benefit for humans since a large amount of crops and money
that is saved when they eat these pests.
Some bats even help with pollinating certain plants. Plants such as the giant cacti and agave in
the North American deserts depend on the bats to pollinate them and without
pollination these plants wouldn’t be able to seeds or fruit (batcon.org). This then would affect other animals in the
desert since a lot of them rely on such plants for shelter, food, and even
water. There are also some bats that
contribute to restoring forests such as the fruit-eating bats (batcon.org). They effective disperse seed into forestlands
to start new growth. This growth helps
regenerate many of the clear-cut forest since the bats start the forest’s
undergrowth that provides shelter for the other animals that then come and spread
more delicate plants though out the forest.
Bats are
very significant creatures and Emily Dickinson and I agree that bats are both interesting
and important creatures to have around. There
are over 1,300 species of bats all over the world and it is important that
people get to know these creatures more because of how essential they are in
the world (batcon.org). Knowing this maybe people
will take more consideration for these creatures because many of their lives
are threatened by humans. I believe Emily Dickinson’s poem sheds some
light on these creatures and perhaps by reading this some people will take more
consideration on their importance and begin to appreciate these creatures more.
Sources:
"Bats Are Important." 2017. Bat
Conservation International. Web Site. 12 02 2017.
<http://www.batcon.org/why-bats/bats-are/bats-are-important>.
Cullina, Alice. Chainani, Soman ed. "Emily Dickinson’s
Collected Poems “The Bat is dun, with wrinkled Wings –” Summary and
Analysis". GradeSaver, 26 July 2009 Web. 12 February 2017.
Dickinson, Emily. "The Bat is dun with wrinkled
wings." Complete Poems. 1924. Poem. 12 02 2017.
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