Water is taught by thirst. Is constructed through a series of comparisons. The first line"Water is taught by thirst" suggests that the subject is formed by what it is not, or in some ways destroys. The use of the word taught can been interpreted many ways. Tuaght implies to learn new skills as in ways that a instructor would teach a student. However it can be used in the broader terms of what life teaches us. Dickinson is pushing the idea that the lessons we as individuals are taught throughout our lives will eventually come to define our existence.

The poem continues

Land, by the ocean passed

Transport by throe

Peace, by its battles Told

Again Dickinson is using opposites, suggesting that definitons are established by opposites. Intresting enough allthings being taught in the poem in some way reflect progress and change while their opposites reflect challenges to thier purpose. Land can always be changed and modified, while the ocean may rise and fall it will esentially always be confined to the same place. Transport itself is an act of progress, we travel to destinations just as we travel throu life. Peace is another ongoing activity while battles are destructive steps backwards often resulting is nothingness.

The last line of the Poem

Birds, by the snow

May seem odd compared to the rest of the poem, but it too is an active process challenged by it's opposite. Birds are a symbol of personal freedom. Thier abilities are not only limited to flight, they also posess the capability of learning. Birds learn to fly just as Humans learn to walk, they as well have the capacity to fail at flight just as humans are capable to fail at many aspects of life, however all that is overshadowed by thier ability to learn and change. The true difference between birds and snow are not that they both fall to the ground, but that birds have the ability to not fall to the ground just as transport can easily bestopped but it can continue unlike a throe,

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