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Question
Answer the following question briefly:
Do you think the snake was conscious of the poet's presence? How do you know?
Solution
The snake was not conscious of the poet’s presence for it came very peacefully trailing his yellow-brown belly down over the edge of the stone water trough. It rested its throat upon the bottom where the water was dripping and sipped with his straight mouth softly into his slack long body.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
What does the poet compare the snake's drinking habits to? Why?
Given below is the summary of the poem Snake in short paragraphs. However
they are jumbled. Work in pairs and put the summary into a logical sequence.
(a) 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.
(b) 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.
(c) 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.
(d) 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.
(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.
(f) He is guilt-ridden. He feels that he has to atone for the meanness of his action of throwing a log at the snake.
(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.
(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.
(i) 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.
(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.
Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:
- 'Asort of horror , a sort of protest overcame me' - The poet is filled with protest because
Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:
- He seemed to me like a king in exile…' The poet refers to the snake as such to emphasize that the snake
Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:
- 'I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act' -The poet is referring to
Answer the following question briefly:
In stanza 2 and 3, the poet gives a vivid description of the snake by using suggestive expressions. What picture of the snake do you form on the basis of this description?
Answer the following question briefly:
How do we know that the snake's thirst had been satiated? Pick out the expressions that convey this.
Answer the following question briefly :
'I have something to expiate'-Explain.
A Calligram is a poem, phrase or word in which the handwriting is arranged in a way that creates a visual image. The image created by the words expresses visually what the word or words, say. In a poem, it manifests visually the theme presented by the text of the poem. Read the poem given below. Try to compose a calligram. You could pick a subject of your choice.
Snake
Snake glides
through grass
over
Pebbles
forked tongue
working
never
speaking
but its
body
whispers
listen.
Keith Bosley
Answer the following question:
In the poem "Snake", why does the poet say "I have something to expatiate."?
