Summary of the poem "Snake"-by D.H.Lawrence

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Hi,

Here is the short summary of the poem :

-It was noon time of a hot day when the poet goes to his water trough to fill his water pitcher.

-As he goes there he sees that a golden-brown snake is drinking the water from his tap

-He feel a great pleasure to have the snake as his guest and consider himself as a host

- He decides to wait for his turn to come as the snake was the first comer

-He observes that the snake was long with slackness soft body.

- The snake drinks the water as the cattle do

- The poet knows that the golden snake was venomous and must be killed but his heart tells him not to do so

- His voice of education tells him to kill the snake but he doesn't  do so

-Then the snake turns back to go to his dark burrow

- The poet doesn't like it and suddenly he throws a log of wood at him

- He didn't want the snake go back but irionically he forces him to do so

- after he do so he regrets a  lot.

- He feels the same as the ancient mariner who killed the innocent albatross

- He wishes that he might get a second chance to improve his mistake

- He repent alot for the underworld king- the snake.

That's all

Hope it helps..

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v  A snake visited the poet 's water trough on a hot afternoon to quench his thirst. The poet who had also gone to the trough to fill water in a pitcher waited for the snake since he had come at the trough prior to the poet.

v  (g) The snake rested his throat upon the stone bottom and sipped the water into his slack long body. After drinking water, he raised his head just like cattle do and flashed his forked tongue, thought for a moment and then bent down to drink some more water.

v  After drinking water to satisfaction, the snake raised his head dreamily and flickered his forked tongue and licked his lips. The snake looked around like a God and then slowly proceeded to curve round and move away from the water trough.

v  (h) Education and social conventions make the poet think that the golden brown poisonous snake must be killed and that as a brave man he must undertake the task of killing the snake.

v  (e) The voices of education inside the poet tell him that it was the fear for the snake that made him refrain from killing him. However, the poet feels that though he was quite afraid of the snake, he did actually feel honoured that a snake had come to seek his hospitality from the deep recesses of the earth.

v  (j) However, the poet instinctively likes the snake, treats him like a guest and feels honoured that it had come to drink at his water trough. The poet questions himself and wonders whether his not daring to kill the snake proved that he was a coward and whether his desire to talk to the snake reflected his perversity.

v  As the snake put his head into the hole to retreat into the earth, the poet was filled with a protest against the idea of the snake withdrawing into his hole. The poet put down his pitcher, picked up a log and hurled it at the snake. The snake twisted violently and with great alacrity vanished into the hole in the wall.

v  (f) He is guilt-ridden and feels that he has to atone for the meanness of his action of throwing a log at the snake.

v  The poet instantly felt sorry for his unrefined and contemptible act and cursed the voices of education and civilization that had shaped his thought processes and urged him to kill the snake.

v  The poet felt much like the ancient mariner who had killed the albatross for no reason. He wishes that the snake would come back. He thinks of the snake as a king in exile who has to be crowned again. He also regrets having missed his opportunity of knowing and understanding one of the lords of life.

v   

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thanxxxxxxx.............

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 thnk you

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thank u ...

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 Here is a brief summary of the poem Snake by D.H.Lawrence:

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 through 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. On getting to his water – through, meeting the snake, he sees it as an obligation to “stand and wait” for the snake because it was there before it. 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 stone rested its “throat upon the stone bottom” and started drinking softly its mouth into “his slack long body”. The poet referred to himself s a “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 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 he must kill the snake, “for in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous”. This implies that the poet beliefs that black snakes are harmless while gold snakes are harmful, making an allusion to “Sicilian July “and “Etna smoking”, which are both historical events. The echo of his voices tempted 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 the snake, the poet felt so honoured. The snake having considered been 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. The snake moved in slowly into the hole without any fear. Suddenly, the poet looked around and put down his pitcher, “picked up 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”. 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.

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 thumbs up plzz........

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thanks honeyjain.

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Summary fromHunney Jainis awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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