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Question
How do we know that the snake’s thirst had been satiated? Pick out the expressions that convey this.
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Solution
The snake’s thirst was satiated, for after drinking silently, he lifted his head ‘as cattle do,’ satisfied, and flickered his forked tongue from his lips ‘as one who has drunken’ and slowly proceeded to draw his slow length, curving round and climbing again the broken bank of my wall-face.
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What is the poet’s dual attitude towards the snake?
What is the dilemma that the poet faces when he sees the snake?
What were the conflicting thoughts in the poet's mind on seeing the snake?
What were the poet's thoughts after the snake had gone?
Snakes generate both horror and fascination. Do you agree? Why/Why not?
Read what W.W.E. Ross feels when he sees a snake and fill in the table given
below:
The snake trying to escape the
pursuing stick, with sudden curvings
of thin long body. How beautiful and
graceful are his shapes !
He glides through the water away
from the stroke. O let him go over the
water into the reeds to hide without
hurt. Small and green he is harmless
even to children Along the sand
he lay until observed
and chased away, and now
he vanishes in the ripples
among the green slim reeds.
| What is the snake doing? | Words to describe the snake | The Poet's plea |
Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:
- 'he lifted his head from his drinking as cattle do' - The poet wants to convey that the snake
Based on your reading of the poem, answer the following question by ticking the correct option:
- In the line 'And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther'
the phrase snake easing' his shoulders means
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:
Why does the poet decide to stand and wait till the snake has finished drinking? What
does this tell you about the poet? (Notice that he uses 'someone' instead of 'something'
for the snake.)
Answer the following question briefly:
How does the poet describe the day and the atmosphere when he had seen the snake?
Answer the following question briefly:
What does the poet want to convey by saying that the snake emerges from the 'burning
bowels of the earth'?
Answer the following question briefly:
Do you think the snake was conscious of the poet's presence? How do you know?
Answer the following question briefly:
The poet has a dual attitude towards the snake. Why does he experience conflicting emotions on seeing the snake?
Answer the following question briefly:
The poet is filled with horror and protest when the snake prepares to retreat and bury itself in the 'horrid black', 'dreadful' hole. In the light of this statement, bring out the irony of his act of throwing a log at the snake.
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
