SNAKE
By D.H . LAWRENCE
Theme/ Message: “ Snake” by D.H.Lawrence seems to have been written on the theme of the need of Man’s mutual and peaceful co-existence with the other creatures in the world and the right to safe existence that these creatures naturally have God’s creations. Parallel to this theme runs the theme of guilt and sin that man, the crowning glory of God’s creation, has or should have for failing to carry out his duty to respect and protect the right of other creatures of God to exist peacefully on the earth. It is sad that he is a threat to them than they are to him.
Title: “Snake” is the best title that the poem could ever have, for the entire poem is about a particular snake that came to drink water at the poets water-trough. The poet holds the golden brown snake in great awe and instead of other worldliness of the snakes and how Man has been cruel to them. He seems to suggest that as the crowning glory of God’s creation, it is Man’s duty to respect and protect the right of other creatures to co-exist with him in peace and
harmony. The absence of article ‘a’ or ‘the’ in the title not only gives a unique identity to the snake that visits the poets water- trough but also brings into focus the ‘ dark underworld’ of snakes and their right to dignified life. Thus the title is one of the most appropriate one for the poem.
Literary Devices
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of successive words( initial alliteration) and within words (internal alliteration)
Eg: “ strange scented shade” ; “slackness soft- bellied down”; “And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless” ; “ mused a moment” ; “ burning bowels of this earth”; “ lick his lips”.
Repetition : Poets often repeat single words or phrases, lines and sometimes even whole stanzas at intervals to create a musical effect; to emphasize a point, to draw readers attention or to lend unity to a piece.
Eg: “ On a hot, hot day” ; “ And must wait, must stand and wait”; “ And slowly turned his head”;
“ And slowly, very slowly” ; “ A sort of horror , a sort of protest” ; “ how paltry, how vulgar”
Transferred Epithet: Transferred epithet is a rhetorical device in which usually an adjective is applied to a different word in the sentence instead of the word it normally describes. This device is often used by poets and writers to stress the emotions or feelings of the individual by expanding them to the environment.
Eg: “ deep, strange -scented shade”
It is not the shade that gives out the scent but the carob tree.
Smilie : In a similie a comparison between two distinctly different things is indicated by the word ‘like’ or ‘as’.
Eg: “ He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do” ; “ His tongue like a forked night”; “ He had come like a guest”; “ And looked around like a God” ; “ As one who has drunken”; “ Writhed like lightning” ; “ Like a King in Exile”.
Allusion : Allusion means an indirect reference or suggestion. It is a figure of speech in which a
passing but significant reference is made to a well known person, place or thing.
Eg: “ The Albatross”
Read the Following Extracts and Answer the Questions that Follow
I “ He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom And trailed his yellow brown slackness soft- bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough”
a) Where has the snake reached down from?
b) Describe the snakes movement?
c) What does ‘yellow- brown slackness’ refer to?
II “ And yet those voices:
If you were not afraid you would kill him!
And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more”
a) What do ‘those voices’ refer to?
b) Why was the speaker afraid of the snake?
c) Why did the speaker feel honoure
Please click on below link to download CBSE Class 10 English Snake Worksheet
