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Question
What is the dilemma that the poet faces when he sees the snake?
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Solution
The poet is caught in between human instinct and rational thought. Human instinct makes him appreciate the snake and love animals. However, the voice of human education or rational thought says that snakes are poisonous and therefore should to be killed.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
Why did the poet try to harm 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:
- 'I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act' -The poet is referring to
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:
The poet experiences feelings of self-derision, guilt and regret after hitting the snake. Pick out expressions that suggest this. Why does he feel like this?
Answer the following question briefly:
You have already read Coleridge's poem The Ancient Mariner in which an albatross is killed by the mariner. Why does the poet make an allusion to the albatross?
Answer the following question briefly :
'I have something to expiate'-Explain.
