Question

Read the given extract and answer the questions briefly.

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? (Snake)

1. How did the poet feel about the snake’s visit? [1]
2. Where did the snake depart after drinking at the water-trough? [1]
3. What action is suggested to the narrator on how to deal with the snake? [1]
4. What did the poet compare the snake’s visit to? [1]

Answer 1

1. He liked the snake’s visit and felt honoured/glad that it had come like a quiet guest.
2. It departed into the earth, “into the burning bowels of this earth” (into a fissure/hole in the wall).
3. The voices tell him to take a stick and break the snake, i.e., kill it.
4. He compared the snake’s visit to a quiet guest coming to drink at his water-trough.