In this poem the speaker is out for a walk near sunset. The season is mid-to-late summer, for the grasshoppers are making noise and roses are in bloom. Linnets are hopping from bush to bush as he walks. He then sees a rabbit in the mouth of its warren, looking toward the south. The speaker imagines the rabbit is enjoying the smells and the soft grass under its feet. The speaker bemoans the fact that...
In this poem the speaker is out for a walk near sunset. The season is mid-to-late summer, for the grasshoppers are making noise and roses are in bloom. Linnets are hopping from bush to bush as he walks. He then sees a rabbit in the mouth of its warren, looking toward the south. The speaker imagines the rabbit is enjoying the smells and the soft grass under its feet. The speaker bemoans the fact that upon seeing him, the rabbit turns and bolts into its hole. The rabbit, the speaker knows, is afraid of him because he is large, human, and an obvious enemy. The speaker believes himself to be a "poor soul" to have such a reputation among animal life. The speaker observes a "snowy flit of a scut," that is, a quick movement of the rabbit's white tail, and then from within the rabbit's warren (labyrinth), the speaker hears the rabbit thumping a danger warning to all other animals within hearing: "stamp, stamp, stamp!" Ironically, the speaker calls himself a "Murderer"; he knows he intended the rabbit no harm, but he understands the rabbit's fearful overreaction.
(You can see and hear a linnet at the link below and see and hear a rabbit stomping at the other link.)
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