A long time ago, before women had many of the rights that they do now, an author wrote a series of poems that shocked the public. This poem startled the readers when they found out that the author of this poem was a woman. At the time that "986" was written women were supposed to remain abstinent for the man who was to marry them when they were older. When Emily wrote this poem she was a virgin; she even wore white clothes. The poem "986" utilizes Freudian imagery and stages of development to dramatize a female perspective on sexuality.

When you read this poem for the first time it is easily noticeable the sexual content that is provided for the reader to interpret. Take the first stanza,

When looking at the first stanza the narrator is stating that the "Fellow" is a penis, and that you might or might not have met it, or had an encounter with a penis. Also, in imagery male genitalia is signified by animate creatures. Then at the end of the stanza the narrator states that something is noticed sudden

on--"(7-8). Here it is say that for the woman, if looking down on the penis it disappears into the vagina and will eventually come back out somewhere else.

In the phallic stage you have already passed the "Oral" stage, where you put things in your mouth, and the "Anal" stage, where you get excitement for going to the bathroom for the first time. In the "Phallic" stage you are now seeking genital arousal. There is a perfect example of this stage in the twelfth to the sixteenth line when is says;

Now if you were to be a person and you had read this poem, you too would be able to notice the sexual content that is present in this poem. Even if you might not have seen it the first time around, the material is there. And Freud can pick out some of the basic things, and with the help of imagery it is easy to see the sexual content and analyze their meanings.

Since the Narrator has introduced you to the male organ, it is only fitting that she does the same for the female. The example of this is in the fifth line, first line of the second stanza, when it says, "The Grass divides as with a Comb--." If you were to visualize looking at the clitoris, the pubic hair sometimes tends to divide at the opening, as if

Some common words found in the essay are:
Grass Occasionally, Fellow Grass, Nature's People, Unbraiding Sun, Freud Freud, Boggy Acre, Rees English, phallic stage, stanza narrator, sexual content, narrow fellow grass, whip lash, male organ, fellow grass, read poem, narrow fellow, narrator stating,
Approximate Word count = 819
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)