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POEM –SNAKE

POEM –SNAKE. D H LAWRENCE.

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POEM –SNAKE

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  1. POEM –SNAKE D H LAWRENCE

  2. David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation. In them, Lawrence confronts issues relating to emotional health and vitality, spontaneity, and instinct. Lawrence is perhaps best known for his novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. Lawrence's best-known short stories include The Captain's Doll, The Fox, The Ladybird, Odour of Chrysanthemums, The Princess, The Rocking-Horse Winner, St Mawr, The Virgin and the Gypsy and The Woman who Rode Away. (The Virgin and the Gypsy was published as a novella after he died.) 

  3. A snake came to my water-trough Slide 6On a hot, hot day, and I in pajamas for the heat,To drink there.In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-treeI came down the steps with my pitcherAnd must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough beforeme. He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloomAnd trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge ofthe stone troughAnd rested his throat upon the stone bottom,And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,He sipped with his straight mouth,Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body,Silently. Someone was before me at my water-trough,And I, like a second comer, waiting. He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment,And stooped and drank a little more, Lines 1-9

  4. Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earthOn the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.The voice of my education said to meHe must be killed,For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.And voices in me said, If you were a manYou would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.But must I confess how I liked him,How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-troughAnd depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,Into the burning bowels of this earth?Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him? Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him? Was it humility, to feel so honoured?I felt so honoured.And yet those voices:

  5. I looked round, I put down my pitcher, I picked up a clumsy logAnd threw it at the water-trough with a clatter. • I think it did not hit him,But suddenly that part of him that was left behind convulsed in undignified haste.Writhed like lightning, and was gone Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front, At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination. • And immediately I regretted it.I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education. • And I thought of the albatrossAnd I wished he would come back, my snake. • For he seemed to me again like a king,Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,Now due to be crowned again. • And so, I missed my chance with one of the lordsOf life.And I have something to expiate:A pettiness

  6. And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still moreThat he should seek my hospitalityFrom out the dark door of the secret earth. He drank enough And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken, And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black, Seeming to lick his lips,And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air,And slowly turned his head,And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice a dream,Proceeded to draw his slow length curving roundAnd climb again the broken bank of my wall-face. And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther, A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole,Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after,Overcame me now his back was turned.

  7. VISUAL DICTIONARY Snake drinking from water trough Water trough Forked tongue pitcher Etna smoking Carob tree

  8. Sicilian july Sicily's hottest summers on record, and unusual even for Sicily. There is a big heat wave at the end of June, and again at the end of July with temperatures at 40-44C/104-109.4F (blackouts) day after day. Catania was over 50C/122F. Before 2007, the last severe heat wave was in 2001. July is always extremely hot and dry, especially along the coastal areas. Sea temperatures are also warm. The interior and mountainous areas are cooler and greener.

  9. POETIC ANALYSIS The poem is more or less like an ode*, celebrating the encounter of the poet with a snake, that came as a trespass into his domain for water. The poem starts by revealing the event, the time and the atmosphere. The snake in satisfying its urge for water, went to the poets “water – trough” on “hot day”. Also, the poet who is the owner of the water trough came for the same purpose in his pyjamas to avoid the “heat”. The poet is said to be coming from his “strange – scented shade” with a “pitcher” in his hand. is a type of lyrical verse.

  10. On getting to his water – trough, meeting the snake, he sees it as an obligation to “stand and wait” for the snake because it was there before him.The snake whose origin was from a fissure in the earth –wall, slither slowly with its “yellow – brown” “soft belly” to the “edge of the stone trough”. The snake rested its “throat upon the stone bottom” and started drinking softly its mouth into “his slack long body”.

  11. The poet referred to himself as “second comer”  waiting for the snake to finish drinking. The poet  • while watching , observed its mode of drinking and described it as that of cattle. • The poet said in line 15 – 19 that the snake “lifted its throat from his drinking, as cattle do, and • The snake having been considered hospitalized, “drank enough and lifted its head” “and flickered his tongue”. After reaching the peak of its satisfaction , the snake turned around slowly with its long curved body towards the direction of its origin. 

  12. The snake moved in slowly into the hole without  any fear. Suddenly, the poet looked around and put down his pitcher, “picked up a clumsy log and threw it at the water-trough”. This was done to kill the snake but it did not. The snake hearing the “clatter” hastily moved in its remaining body “into the black hole”.

  13. Poet regrets his inhuman act • At the disappearance of the snake, the poet regretted his action immediately and blamed himself for acting the way he did. He placed the blame on the voice of his education to have lured him into it and feared not to pay for his negative action like the sailor that killed “the albatross”. The poet after regretting wished the snake could come back for him to crown it like a king but believed it would never do so and sees it “like a king in exile”. • The poet concluded by feeling that he has to make an amendment.

  14. STYLE / STRUCTURE The poem is a free verse, having no specific rhyming pattern. The poem’s first part talks about the arrival of the poet and the snake with a brief description of the snake. The second division talks about the mode of the drinking of the snake and the patient attitude of the poet. Furthermore, the third segment features the poet’s mindconflict onwhether tokill or spare thesnake. The next segment portrays the returning of the snake and lastly, the remorse shown by the poet is expressed.

  15. FIGURATIVE EXPRESSION • Repetition:“hot” {line 2}, “must” {line 6}, “earth” {line 20}, “afraid” {line37}, “slowly” {line 46}, “a sort” {line 53}, “like a king” {line 68 – 69}. • Alliteration: • “burning bowels” Line 20 -21}, “peaceful pacify” {line 29”,“dark door ” {line 90} • Assonance: • “door of” {line 40}, “and thankless” {line 29} • Simile: • “had come like a guest” {line 28}, “…his tongue like a forked night..” {line 43},“…around like a god” {line 45} • Metaphor: • “the dark door ” {line 40} • Allusion: •  Sicilian July” {line 22}, “albatross” {line 62} • Imagery: • “pitcher ” {line 6}, “…brown slackness soft bellied” 

  16. Work sheet -1 1.Find from the poem words used to describe the snake. 2.How is the day described in the poem?What evidence do you find in the poem to support your answer? 3.The poet is in a state of confusion in the poem. What is the confusion about?

  17. Worksheet -2 Give two examples of the following figures of speech from the poem.

  18. Extrapolation question What underlying statement is the poet making about human beings in general and himself in particular? The regrets his act and writes about his feelings ia letter to his friend.Write the letter in not more than 150-180 words. (Diary entry)

  19. Value based question The beautiful Earth is created for everyone to live and enjoy .We human have no right to interfere in other `s freedom and threaten their existence. Enumerate with reference to the poem “snake”

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