Snake Analysis

A snake came to my water-trough
On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
To drink there.
In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob-tree
I came down the steps with my pitcher
And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough before
me.

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom
And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of
the stone trough
And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,
And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness,
He sipped with his straight mouth,
Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body,
Silently.

Someone was before me at my water-trough,
And I, like a second comer, waiting.

He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,
And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,
And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment,
And stooped and drank a little more,
Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth
On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.
The voice of my education said to me
He must be killed,
For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.

And voices in me said, If you were a man
You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.

But must I confess how I liked him,
How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink at my water-trough
And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless,
Into the burning bowels of this earth?

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?
I felt so honoured.

And yet those voices:
If you were not afraid, you would kill him!

And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more
That he should seek my hospitality
From out the dark door of the secret earth.

He drank enough
And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken,
And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black,
Seeming to lick his lips,
And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air,
And slowly turned his head,
And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream,
Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round
And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.

And as he put his head into that dreadful hole,
And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther,
A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole,
Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after,
Overcame me now his back was turned.

I looked round, I put down my pitcher,
I picked up a clumsy log
And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter.

I think it did not hit him,
But suddenly that part of him that was left behind convulsed in undignified haste.
Writhed like lightning, and was gone
Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front,
At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.

And immediately I regretted it.
I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act!
I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.

And I thought of the albatross
And I wished he would come back, my snake.

For he seemed to me again like a king,
Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld,
Now due to be crowned again.

And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords
Of life.
And I have something to expiate:
A pettiness.

Taormina, 1923

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the snake i guess represents the dark side of the human soul. we try to supress this side through education but the poet expresses his admiration to this side. this is evident also in the story "heart of darkness".

| Posted on 2009-11-21 | by a guest

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Surely just by time period and social background it can not be about black vs white, even with the clear evidence you have found. Surely this is showing the inner struggle within the human mind to regard beauty but the fear of the unknown. This is shown by Lawrence's constant references to the snake "Being earth-brown, earth-golden" being rather positive while also being "from the burning bowels of the earth". Burning bowels of course relating to hell. Most people of the time were pretty scared of hell.
But that is my opinion. Let's face it you could probably say nearly anything about this poem.
Well worth reading though.

| Posted on 2009-11-19 | by a guest

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some of you peoples responses are unbelieveable and overall, rididculous. Lawrence wrote this in context to modernism, but with intoxicating amounts of romanticism. This poem is closely tied in with Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." He simply does not understand the beauties of nature, and as a human, he has the impulse to kill it even though he is astounded by it's beauty.

| Posted on 2009-11-17 | by a guest

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i like the poem too. Very good written:P must be read

| Posted on 2009-11-15 | by a guest

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I find this poem as interesting and inspiring as the next person, but my favorite lines are
And depart peaceful, pacifed,thankless
In to the burning bowels of earth
These are my favorite because at first it was nice and peaceful but then it turns to firey depts of the earth, i find this amazing.

| Posted on 2009-10-09 | by a guest

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This poem by DH Lawrence explains to everyone how humanity has ceased to respect nature, but instead decided to lord over nature. What humanity (but not Lawrence) forgets, is that nature is more powerful than human beings can ever be.

| Posted on 2009-10-08 | by a guest

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This the best poem i ve come across about Snakes. in this poem poet actually tries to draw our attention to ths fact that every one of us have evil in ourselves but we should not allow this evil to destroy the communion between the man and the animal world1. as in this poem there is something in the poet that actually wants him to like the snake but at the same time the voice of his education preaches him to kill it as it might be dangerous to him. we have been always thought to seek oyr own comforts no matter you may have to trouble another creatur our education makes us to beloeve that man is superior to all the other animals. thus the snake in this poem is said to be an uncrowned king the king who is in exile man has actually exiled the snake and other creatures frm there habitats and formed our living so where can this poor creatures go and hence the poet is covered with guilt after trowing the culmsy log on the poor innocent snake...

| Posted on 2009-10-08 | by a guest

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This poem is about nothing, Lawrence would laugh if he saw all this analysis because he probably wrote it when he was drunk and probably didnt even know what it was about either!!!!

| Posted on 2009-09-22 | by a guest

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As a poet, he is one of two who influence me still.
I remain silent, to speak not my pettiness. I write poetry to speak my pettiness.

| Posted on 2009-09-13 | by a guest

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i belive this poem has something to do with the society and the voice of education.it ha nothing to do with racism

| Posted on 2009-09-10 | by a guest

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this poem is about racism and the blackman's struggle for freedom and also self defence for the blackman. it goes futher to tell us how they have been taught to fight against the white in self defence of their right and the invasion of their privacy. when lawrence threw the log its shows fight for freedom

| Posted on 2009-06-19 | by a guest

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This poem is about homosexuality, how the man struggles to ignore what his society thinks of the whole thing. "But must I confess how I liked him" The poet is simply coming out of the closet in the most creative way ever.

| Posted on 2009-06-09 | by a guest

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The symbolism in this poem is about man being influenced by temptation and eventually giving into it as Adam did in the Garden of Eden, in the bible.

| Posted on 2009-04-26 | by a guest

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it is about the struggle bwteen man and the snake ant african american
but this poem is really crap mind

| Posted on 2009-04-21 | by a guest

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this is all wrong it is about the hardship oflife for snakes for they are hated by man for being harmfull to us. but to be fair it is a really boring and stupid poem.

| Posted on 2009-03-16 | by a guest

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this poem conveys the struggle between African-americans and whiteman. The man dressed in Pj's, being the African-american, is bemused and honored by the snake, whiteman. Ignoring the fact that the snake intruded, the man just watches patiently in astonishment, being completely honored that the snake would come to HIS water trough (society). When he throws the log, it portrays the rebellion of the blacks not wanting to have the whitman conspire against them. The man wants to keep the snake under his watchful eyes as he admires it. The same applies to the hardships of African-americans

| Posted on 2009-03-12 | by a guest

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this poem is really boring. it is about the struggles of an african american.

| Posted on 2009-03-12 | by a guest

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I honestly loved the poem the literary the symbolism used was a sure fire way to help me understand the deeper meaning of the poem and it made me appreciate the essence of the poem and all it has taught me.THIS IS A MUST READ!

| Posted on 2008-12-03 | by a guest

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does not serve as much of a point to human life. yes we follow the norm but cmon...

| Posted on 2008-11-27 | by a guest

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This poem is a wonderful life lesson. dont knowk it before you try it

| Posted on 2008-11-27 | by a guest

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This poem reveals the human weakness of liking the evil and the corruption. It shows that humans are naturally attracted to the things they are afraid of the most.
On the other hand the ending shows how the human education teaches us that many things are bad, therefore they are engraved into our heads. However the poisonous snake meant no harm but due to the voices, Lawrence threw a stick at it, regretting an instant later his vulgar act.

| Posted on 2008-11-25 | by a guest

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The fact that D.H. Lawernce uses free verse leaves this poem open to much ambivalance, and allows the poetic persona to write as if the verse is an account not a lyric, which emphasises the pace and the growing intensity of the poem let down in a very anti-climactic way by just 'the pettiness' of man kind.

| Posted on 2008-09-08 | by a guest

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No way... this poem is not stupid. It is about coming to terms and bringing to light our own snakes of what Lawrence later termed of "living corruption" that hide in the darkness of our beings. Society or the source of the "accursed human education" tells us to repress our corruption and hide it or "kill it"; however, it is out of human nature that is rises to the surface again in a way that indeed rules us. But that is the point, we must not repress it to rather understand it in a way that will not allow it to have control over us.

| Posted on 2008-04-02 | by a guest

.: snake :.

this poem is about a snake that seems superior over lawrence as he call it of the lords of life and this poem is stupid

| Posted on 2008-03-11 | by a guest