8/13/2019 Snake Lawrence Expln.

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Snake by D.H Lawrence

In this moving poem, D.H. Lawrence recalls a time in 1923 when he was living in Sicily. Lawrence, our

narrator, is thirsty and goes out into the courtyard to fetch some water from his trough (at that time

plumbing was not invented). He receives a surprise when he sees a golden-brown snake

drinking peacefully at his trough. He has conflicting views on what he should do-society and his

conditioning tell him to kill the snake, as does religion (the snake represents the devil, and

tempts human beings in genesis). However, his inner nature tells him that the snake is not to be

feared, as all it is doing is peacefully drinking and will depart soon. This poem is really a battle

between human nature and conditioning. For me personally, my general belief of what this poem is

about is a mixture of things, one of them being reason vs. fear. The narrator has been taught to kill

poisonous snakes- not all snakes. It\'s a dangerous animal, and his first instinct is to kill it because

that is what he was taught. Kill the snake before it kills you. However, the snake is only drinking

peacefully and so the narrator is then conflicted. On one hand he\'s fascinated by the creature and

doesn\'t want to harm it if it isn\'t aggressive, yet the voices continue to tell him to kill it. He thinks

himself a coward for not doing so. In the end he attempts to kill the snake only to deeply regret it,

because he struck first without being provoked.

D.H. Lawrence uses repetition to emphasize repeatedly the fact that the snake may not be as bad as

we humans believe. He says: 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? This gives a striking effect of

repeated loops, and leads us to consider our own misgivings. Consider this: He lifted his head

from his drinking, as cattle do, and looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do. This emphasizes

that the snake is actually more harmless than they seem to be. Repetition also reinforces his own

conditioning as shown here: And voices in me said, If you were a man, you would take a stick

and break him now, and finish him offAnd yet those voices: If you were not afraid, you would kill

him!

D.H. Lawrence also uses extensive language to convey the situation. He uses words like:

convulsed undignified vulgar to express exactly how the snake and he himself

looked and felt like. These long words also help to keep the pace and rhythm. These make the poem

slower, conveying the extreme heat of a hot day in Sicily. It makes the poem slurred and slow. Even

when reading, it is read slowly and emotionally. The words earth-lippedburning

bowelsslack also convey the extreme heat. He also uses lushwords to show the

extent of nature. Lords of lifegod conveys the power of the being that he sent away.

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8/13/2019 Snake Lawrence Expln.

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Lawrence introduces the poem by getting straight to the point, also using a repetition to show that it

is a really hot day. Lawrence wrote the poem, possibly because it was a true story, but most likely

because he was trying to display mans feelings about snakes and question it. He believes that the

snake is a gentle creature, simply thirsty and grateful for there to be water nearby. To him it is a

compliment. But to most, it is a natural instinct to dispose if the beautiful creature.

The poem indicates that even though his knowledge was telling him to end the snake right then and

there, because he considered it a king, it shows that the snake had as much right to drink from the

water trough as any man or beast did. Even though it was venomous, it was doing no harm.

A great technique used, as I mentioned earlier, is the repetition. D. H. Lawrence uses the repetition

at the beginning, describing how hot the day is. Lawrence obviously wants us to know that the

reason he and the snake have come to the trough is because it is a very hot day. He uses the

repetition later, but another technique he uses is the simile. He uses it when describing the snake

lifting his head like drinking cattle to. He uses the drinking cattle reference twice, showing that the

snakes actions deeply resemble those of cattle. He also uses a simile when saying that the snake

looked around like a god. Another good technique Lawrence uses is when he is describing his act

after he threw the log. By using the three synonyms paltry, vulgar and mean, he shows that trying to

harm the creature was definitely a horrible thing to do. Overall it was a well written and structured

poem most enjoyable by the advanced reader.

Lachlan Bouckley