A poetry analysis of "Snake" by D H Lawrence will usually review such themes as guilt, duty and relationships for these

are some of the poet's favorite issues. In this poem we also see Lawrence's new free life, the heat, and his fascination with Nature, whether that is at home in England, or as in this case, abroad in more Meditteranean climes. The stark simplicity of the title prepares the reader for the plain natural conversational tone of the rest of the poem. Poetry at this time was time was moving away from the more Romantic and lyrical style of the Victorian times, towards more realistic Modernist effects. In this sense Lawrence could be said to be almost ahead of his time with his charming style here. For example, he sets the tone and mood of the whole poem so well, in describing his surroundings, that we feel we could almost be there on the step in the growing heat of the early morning with him. The casual Modernist feel is highlighted even further by the naturalistic way in which Lawrence details the circumstances of the encounter. This observational skill and eye for detail is typical of Lawrence's genius in prose too. For example he casually remarks "and I in pyjamas for the heat." Presumably, as an Englishman abroad, Lawrence would have been unaccustomed to the heat and would have found pyjamas to be the only clothing cool enough to wear during the main part of the day. After heat, the next theme to arise is that of power and hierarchy - or status. Lawrence feels he has no option but to wait his turn at the water trough, as though he is subservient to the snake: And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough before me." Lawrence uses colorful rich language to paint a picture of the snake, with much contrast of light and shade. His love of Nature comes through in his admiration for the majesty of the creature who has usurped him as he slips 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 And rested his throat upon the stone bottom" Language such as "stone," and "gloom" give us glimpses of precious coolness in the blazing heat that we are so easily able to imagine.

Suddenly, Lawrence breaks his reverie and ours by a short sharp shock of realism: "The voice of my education said to me He 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 man You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off."

A new voice enters the poem, perhaps from Lawrence's strict Victorian childhood, perhaps his difficult father, perhaps from the cold pragmatic realism of the Sicilian farmer. Either way, it brings with it a blast of cynicism that blows like a cold wind through the poem bringing a change of pace with it. Words such as "take" or "break" or "finish" evoke images of speed and action contrasting with the unhurried pace of the earlier lines.

This acceleration of pace is confirmed by Lawrence's last act in the poem, which is to throw a "clumsy log" at the disappearing snake - a mean-spirited act which Lawrence immediately regrets. Blaming,perhaps, the ignorance of an inner voice built through unenlightened education and background, Lawrence ends up despising not the royal snake he has come to love, but himself.

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 onhot day. Also, the poet who is the owner of the water through came for thesame purpose in his pygamas to avoid the heat. The poet is said to be comingfrom his strange scented shade with a pitcher in his hand. On getting to hiswater through, meeting the snake, he sees it as an obligation to stand andwait for the snake because it was there before it. The snake whose origin was from a fissure in the earth wall, slitherslowly with its yellow brown soft belly to the edge of the stone trough. Thestone rested its throat upon the stone bottom and started drinking softly itsmouth into his slack long body. The poet referred to himself s a secondcomer 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 inline 15 19 that the snake lifted is throat from his drinking, as cattle do, and looked at him vaguely, as drinking cattle do All these the snake did without giving notice or concentration to whom might be watching. The poet recollected the voice of his education and said to him that hemust kill the snake, for in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the goldare venomous. This implies that the poet beliefs that black snakes areharmless while gold snakes are harmful, making an allusion to Sicilian Julyand Enta smoking, which are both historical events. The echoe of his voicesempted him to kill the snake if he were really a man, but which he latter refused,believing that the snake should should seek hospitality in him. For sparing thesnake, the poet felt so honoured. The snake having considered been hospitalized, drank enough an liftedits head and flickered his tongue. After reaching the peak of its satisfaction,the snake turned around slowly with its long curved body towards the directionof its origin. The snake moved in slowly into the hole without any fear.Suddenly, the poet looked around and put down his pitcher, picked up aclumpsy log and threw it at the water-trough. This was done to kill the snakebut it did not. The snake hearing the clatter hastily moved in its remainingbody into the black hole. At the disappearance of the snake, the poet regretted his actionimmediately and blamed himself for acting the way he did. He placed the blameon the voice of his education to have lured him into it and feared not to pay forhis negative action like the sailor that killed the albatross. The poet afterregretting wished the snake could come back for him to crown it like a king butbelieved it would never do so and sees it like a king in exile. The poetconcluded by feeling that he has to make an amendment. DICTION

The poet adopted a simple, mild, clear, colourful, descriptive andimaginative choice of words to portray his points. These make the poem to bepicturesque. STYLE / STRUCTURE The poem is a free verse, having no specific rhyming pattern. The poems first part talks about the arrival of the poet and the snake witha brief description of the snake. The second division talks about the mode of thedrinking of the snake and the patient attitude of the poet. Furthermore, the thirdsegment features the poets mind conflict on whether to kill or spare the snake.The next segment portrays the returning of the snake and lastly, the remorseshown by the poet was expressed. FIGURATIVE EXPRESSION Anaphora: And slowly {line 46 & 47}, And as he {line 51 & 52}, And I {line 67 & 68} Repetition: hot {line 2}, must {line 6}, earth {line 20}, afraid {line 37}, 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 {line 10}

The internal struggle between our natural intuition and our social instruction. The Snake, a poem by D.H. Lawrence examines the interior conflicts that are placed upon man by the conflicting forces of our innocent instincts and the common sense of the kingdom of man.
The speaker walks from his house in the dead heat of summer to be confronted head on with nature itself and caught up in a dreamlike instant in which he faces what he feels to be truth and what other men have told him to be reality. The speaker begins in conflict and in innocence wearing pajamas for the heat.(2) On his way to get water to relieve the heat, he comes face to face with the reality of nature. A golden bellied king of the earth, dressed in the colors of his world. Not dark, to hide, but rather brilliant earthbrown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth(20). The colors of this snake show that he does not hide in the jungle. He is strong enough to walk proudly in the world and, according to the voices in the speakers head, venomous as well (24). The speaker is suddenly jolted into a state of dreamlike compression. The actions of the world seem to slow down while his awareness of the world seems to increase.

He begins to feel his instincts which tell him that he is in the presence of nature itself and that he is being honored with its presence (34) while he also hears the voices of men which tell him that he must kill this creature (25). He stands and watches as the beast drinks from the supply of his civil world while he examines every movement in slow motion detail and debates the correct idea to stand upon. To be a man, he must be prepared to kill this threat, but he does not feel the need. The snake is clearly a son of nature, an equal, a someone who simply arrived at the trough first and perhaps even lives as a superior even to man. If not superior, then clearly an early arrival to whom the speaker is content to wait behind like a second comer(15). The voices of men point out his fear and make this a flaw which they contend server to stop him in his duty. The speaker admits his fear (37) but it is secondary in station to the honor he instinctually feels. The speaker wrestles with these conflicting thoughts while the snake continues its mission with an air nobility. The snake does not move quickly, like prey in danger, but rather slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream(47) almost without equal or enemy. All around, the heat of the day drips with oppression while the center of the earth smokes. The speaker is dwarfed by the ostentatious set on which he is a player. It is not until the snake turns away that he is shaken from his dream (54). Out of fear or perhaps out of shame, he takes up the mantle of mankind and makes a last effort to fulfill his charge. The prince of the world quickly escapes uninjured while the speaker is left only with his regret. The employment of imagery in this piece is strong with the use of the brutal heat and slow motion movement to create a sense of solitude and stillness. The speaker paints the liquid posture of the snake with strong use of S words which seem almost to turn the readers tongue into the very reptile itself. The speaker is on his own and must choose between honoring the snake in the way that his soul directs and walking in the shoes of contemporary man. While he hears the voices of the men of his past, he sees these words only as the thoughts of a demagogue and prefers instead to embrace the actuality of his own feelings. It is only at the end that he gives in to his weakness and puts forth a half hearted attempt which fails miserably. This collapse only helps to illuminate the speakers true choice and he instantly knows that he has sinned against himself and against nature. In the end, he sees that truth is nothing unless it is in agreement with self and that the world of man can be a petty spot on the plane of nature.