The poem "I started Early - Took my Dog" has a constant theme of the ever changing emotions that a woman can have toward a man. This poem is not difficult to analyze at the literal level, but when examined more closely many other level of interpretations become apparent. Literally, a women takes her dog with her and visits the sea. Once there she becomes frightened of the tide and runs for the safety of a town. There are a number of metaphors throughout the poem that literally describe the sea and the tide. One such metaphor, "I felt his silver heel upon my ankle" describes the surf catching up with her as she walks away from the sea. In the last stanza the women appears to become frightened by the water, to the point where she even feel that the sea "would eat [her] up".

This poem also has much more to it than its literal meaning. The sea can be a metaphor for a number of things: the sexuality of an advancing man, and even death. The sexuality this poem is apparent in that it is rich with sexual language.

In the third line the speaker claims that she visited the sea, this would lead us to believe that the sea is something or someone that she wanted to see or desired to be around. When the sea came up and touched her, " till the tide went past my simple shoe – And past my apron–and my belt And past my Bodice – to–" the speaker seemed excited and full of anticipation. But when the sea (or the man) advanced upon her, slowly moving up her body to the point where it was so close that the speaker feared "He would eat me up". This continues until the phrases...