Snake by DH Lawrence
In Snake, Lawrence tells of a confrontation with a snake he had at his water trough. This poem is actually based on an incident that occurred to him and obviously reflects his feelings and emotions.
Lawrence was honored by the snakes presence, but was also afraid. “If you were not afraid, you would kill him”, he said to himself. He simply waits for the snake to finish drinking its water, and then throws a log at it to scare it away. After doing so he immediately regrets doing it because he missed a chance with one of the “lords of life.” Throughout the poem Lawrence illustrates his point about strife and the clash of opposites. Education and social conventions make
Lawrence think that the poisonous snake must be killed, and that a brave man should undertake the task. For a brief moment Lawrence lacked the faith of his own intuition and missed his chance with one of the lords of life. (Internet, 3) He compares the snake to domesticated farm animals and to a human by referring to the snake as “someone” and describing “him” as amusing. Lawrence compares the snake to a god, a king, and a lord of life. It almost seems as he feels the snake is above him. The snake is the first one on the scene, and the first to leave. Lawrence wonders why “petty” mankind always tries to rob the dignity from all Godly creatures
(Masterplots, 1930).
Some religious themes could be drawn from the poem as well.
There was a snake in the Garden of Eden. Lawrence is drawn by the snake, just as Eve was in the Bible. He is in complete awe of it, and can not decide to turn away from it or get a chance to understand it.
Lawrence’s act of scaring it away could illustrate an attempt to draw closer to God. His inner feelings are fear of the snake “And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more.” His
Garden was both honored and violated by the snake (Masterplots,
1931). This poem, along with others, convey his inner feelings and conflicts. He is confused on how he should feel about the snake. He is torn between what he thinks society would have him do, and what would be morally right. He has been taught that a snake is something
...ake such a cruel test knowing she (God) is irresistible. This theory makes sense, especially if you consider Wilson’s description of the serpent as something “life-promising and life-threatening, seductive and treacherous” (712 Wilson). If God and the serpent are one, then it would further explain the general appeal for the serpent, as well as the charm of this article.
Ménez, Andre’. The Subtle Beast: Snakes, from Myth to Medicine. New York, New York: CRC Press, 2003.
The Devil had with him a staff that "bore the likeness of a great black snake". The staff which looked like a snake is a reference to the snake in the story of Adam and Eve. The snake led Adam and Eve to their destruction by leading them to the Tree of Knowledge. The Adam and Eve story is similar to Goodman Brown in that they are both seeking unfathomable amounts of knowledge. Once Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge they were expelled from their paradise. The Devil's staff eventually leads Goodman Brown to the Devil's ceremony which destroys Goodman Brown's faith in his fellow man, therefore expelling him from his utopia.
Ithaca road is a comedy production aimed at teenagers. However, it seems to overdo it in some instances. For instance, they seem to have read a textbook on how to write a play for a teenage audience. Yes, they keep the set simple and the stage never changes, but they do this at the expense of the simplicity of the plot and characters (which is vastly more important). Also, they make classical references. No teenage student nowadays is expected to have read the odyssey. Yet the play incorporates events and names from the poem to get its point across. For instance, the home of the children is known as Ithaca – Odysseus’s homeland. Like him, they are carried away for twenty years or there abouts, divorced from their parents and family, and eventually return. Then there are the sirens, the bully girls who try to carry her off. And here choice of themes and way of getting them across is worse. They seem to have done high school English and thought
Kimbrough, David L. Taking up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1995. Print.
The snake’s calm demeanor when they first meet, his confidence and power, and his gruesome death help evoke sympathy in the reader. The reader’s first impression of the snake is that “he held his ground in calm watchfulness.” His stance was tense, but not threatening, as “his head was not drawn back to strike.” He does not intend to attack without being provoked; he
The creation story in Genesis refers to a serpent classically interpreted as an evil entity. If we consider God’s warning that eating fruit from a certain tree would result in death the same day and that the record indicates that the only two humans on the planet did not, we must reconsider the role of the serpent and reevaluate the roles of good and evil and how they apply to ...
The sight of the snake is so heartbreaking that even the man is left to rethink
and evil. Eve did not know the serpent could be Satan incarnate, nor did she
Another sign that upholds the fact that the traveler is the devil is the staff that he carries. It bears "the likeness of a great black snake" and it seems at times to move "like a living serpent" (Hawthorne 384). Ever since the beginning of time, serpents have been an accepted symbol of evil. In the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by the devil in the form of a snake; and when she gave into the temptation, she caused all of humanity to fall into the bondage of sin. In the same way, the fellow-traveler tempts Goodman Brown by constantly persuading him onward into the forest, which in turn would crush his Faith.
The last line is a very dramatic way to end a poem and it basically
With people wanting understanding over their lives, they can be deceived easily, just like Eve from The Book of Genesis. This religious story of the first sin has given the snake as well known face of evil and a untrustworthy character.
Poetry is a form of written word which has experience created by sound and meaning. It integrates various elements: Imagery; a figurative language which prompts the reader as well as the listener of the poem to create mental images. Poetic choice of words; this is based on the sound that is, denotation and connotation. Denotation refers to the accurate meaning of the word while connotation refers to the intended meaning of a word. The sound is another element of poetry which about the rhyme; words that sound similar or exactly alike in the poem. It employs metaphor which expresses something new and meaning way by way of comparison on unlike things. The theme as the main element is the purpose of the poem. Poetry is tied as an art because of
Since dawn, Satan, now in the form of a snake, has been searching for the two people that represented the future of all mankind. Satan is looking for mankind to destroy them just for revenge, to get back at God. Satan is full of envy and thirst for revenge. Obviously he would want to find the weaker person first, Eve. Satan would like to find Eve by herself, but he didn 't think it was likely. But Satan actually found Eve all by herself working. Satan in the form of a snake approached Eve and complimented her. Of course Eve was amazed and flattered. She was not amazed because of the compliments he gave her. Eve was amazed on how the snake (Satan) was talking. She thought animals couldn 't talk but Satan told her he how he was dumb as the other animals but as he ate the apple from the tree he became smarter. He was able to think high thoughts, and speak. Satan was slick and Eve was naive. When Satan was telling her about this tree she thought he was talking about a random tree, not being the tree of knowledge. Satan took her to the “tree”. Eve told him she could have saved him the trouble. She told Satan “But of this Tree we may not taste nor touch; God so commanded” (Book IX, lines 651-652). Eve tried to be smart and tell him how they couldn 't eat from the tree of knowledge because God told them not to. She knew it was trouble if she did. She had no freedom to eat from the tree nor touch
And He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”