Appreciating Bats

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.