Symbolism In Oscar. Lawrence's 'Snake' By David Herbert Lawrence

Oscar Wilde quotes in one of his epigrams, “Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” A conflict is a struggle that grows from the interplay of two opposing forces. Sometimes a conflict can be as simple as a decision, or it can be with a bigger, obscure force. In David Herbert Lawrence’s free verse poem, “Snake,” the narrator is torn between the voices of his education and his natural feelings; the prejudges of society can cause an internal conflict within an individual, making it difficult for the person to express his or her thoughts and second-guess their immediate reactions.
Society has its way of informing humans of its acceptable attitudes. In the poem, the narrator walks outside on a hot

The snake itself is a metaphor for all the prejudices that are socially unacceptable to associate with and the instincts that come from them. An instinct is an innate and natural inclination that can cause preconceived notions. The snake represents humans in our society that are marginalized because of biases, false information, and injustice. He compares the hot day watching the snake drink from his water-trough reminds him of a hot day in Sicily; that is what sparks the voices in his head making him feel like a coward. Also, the log the narrator throws represents the conflict itself, expressing the choice of logic or intellect. Lawrence uses similes to emphasize the image of the snake and the situation of the narrator. The author portrays the picture of the snake when it says, “And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black;” (lines 43). This simile compares the snake’s tongue to a forked night, which is separated and angled. It demonstrates the superiority to the snake because the narrator wants to befriend it, but the snake owns up to drinking at the water-trough. Each stanza has a new perspective on the situation the narrator is faced