Summary: This poem is about a snake who is trying to escape being hit by a stick. It is quite human to hit a snake or run away from it, because for most of the human being a snake means a very dangerous animal which can kill in one bite.
The snake is small and green and is harmless even to children. The snake was lying on the sand till it was observed by someone. When the person tries to hit the snake, the snake turns its body into beautiful curves and tries to escape from the onslaught. The snake is trying to run away through the water. While doing so, it creates beautiful ripples in water and vanishes into green slim reeds as if mixing its green slender body with the green slim reeds.
Summary: This poem is about a human beings respect for an animal; which is quite strange because most of us just get scared at the sight of a snake. The narrator has gone to the water trough to fetch water to drink. He observes a strange visitor at the water trough; a snake. Because of his highly developed civic sense, the narrator prefers to allow the snake to quench its thirst because the snake was the first in the queue. The snake silently drinks water and observes the narrator intermittently.
The snake appeared to be poisonous and the narrator instant reaction was the thought to kill the snake. But the real human inside the narrator wanted to treat the snake as some guest who had come to his water trough. The narrator enjoyed the beautiful creation of nature. Finally, when the snake was about to disappear into a dark hole, the narrator clumsily picks up a stick hits the water puddle to create some clatter. The snake quickly disappears inside the dark womb of the earth. Having thrown the stick, the narrator feels guilty the way the Ancient Mariner felt when he killed the albatross. The narrator is left with a sense of pity for himself.
‘he lifted his head from his drinking as cattle do’ – The poet wants to convey that the snake
‘Sicilian July’, ‘Etna smoking’ and ‘burning bowels of the earth’ are images that convey that
‘A sort of horror, a sort of protest overcame me’ - The poet is filled with protest because
In the line “And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulder, and entered farther’ the phrase snake easing his shoulders means
‘He seemed to me like a king in exile’ The poet refers to the snake as such to emphasize that the snake
‘I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act’ – The poet is referring to
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