What is Emily Dickinson trying to convey about the bird, and how does she go about doing it in her poem "A Bird Came Down the Walk?"

Emily Dickinson's "A Bird Came Down the Walk" conveys the
danger and the freedom a bird feels in the wild.  While the bird is clearly anxious
throughout the poem, its sudden flight shows the reader how it allows the bird to enjoy
complete freedom and joy.

In the first stanza, the bird
lands on a sidewalk.  To me, the sidewalk represents society, civilization.  Being a
wild bird, it did what was normal for it -- "bit an angle-worm in halves/and ate the
fellow, raw."  The last two lines in this stanza demonstrate the visciousness required
to survive in nature.

The second stanza
suggests how civilized society allows one to relax. The bird "drank a dew from a
convenient grass."  Water, a necessity for survival, is now easy for this bird to
acquire.  Interestingly enough, the bird then moves out of the way of a beetle.  I am
not sure whether a bird would normally eat a beetle, however, the fact it hops aside "to
let the beetle pass" indicates manners, something society expects.  It is possible that
Dickinson is pointing out how a civilized society allows its inhabitants the ability to
be kinder?

However in the third stanza, the bird is still
wary, ready for danger.  Its eyes are compared to "beads" and dart about the surrounding
with "rapid" movements.  This entire stanza again shows the bird's wild side. It almost
seems as if the bird relaxed for a second then decided it had better keep its guard
up.

When the speaker attempts to give the bird a "crumb,"
the bird flies away its wings cut throught air.  This motion is compared to oars slicing
through water and butterflies swimming through the noontime air.  Both similes
illustrate the beauty and freedom of this bird in flight.  Interestingly enough, if the
bird was not wild, this type of motion would probably not take
place.