Snake BY D. H. LAWRENCE ,short summary and analysis.

 Snake

BY D. H. LAWRENCE

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 an 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

 

Short summary and analysis.

* In the poem "Snake", the poet describes the conflict in his mind after he sees a snake in his water-trough. 

* The snake is golden- brown in colour and as per the social education, it is poisonous and needs to be killed. But, due to his natural human instincts, the poet feels that it is a guest. It is thirsty and has thus come to drink water and so it will do no harm.

 * Later, when after drinking the water, the snake is withdrawing in his black hole the poet throws a log of wood on him. This act of his is due to the social education that he has received through years.

* However, the poet regrets this act of his and decides that he shall give due honour to the snake if he comes again.

* The poem begins with the poet coming to the water-trough to fetch water on a hot day in his pyjamas to beat the heat.

* A dark carob tree shaded the place and a strange smell surrounded it. There, the poet finds a 'golden-brown' snake that has also come to quench his thirst. 

* He waits for the snake to drink the water and go. While doing this he finds that the snake must have come out from a crack in the wall. 

* The poet learns that the snake is golden-brown in colour, has a soft belly, straight gums and a slack long body. While the snake is sipping water, the poet is waiting for his turn like a second-comer.

* The snake sensed the presence of the poet and thus lifted his head and looked inexplicitly at him in the manner similar to the cattle. It flickers his two-forked tongue, ponders for a moment, stoops and goes back to drinking water from the trough.

* This action of the snake suggests to the poet that it is very thirsty. The poet feels that the snake has come out of the burning earth as it was a very hot day of July in Sicily. The poet also mentions that Mount Etna, a natural volcano on the Sicilian Island of Italy is smoking.

*As the poem develops,  the conflict begins in the poet’s mind. His social education says that the golden snakes are poisonous and therefore he shall kill it. His mind urges him to kill it if he is man enough. 

* But, the poet’s natural human instincts make him like it and he feels happy that it came to his water-trough to drink water.

* The poet feels happy and honoured on the visit of the snake. While the snake started to depart after drinking the water, back to the hole from where he had come from. 

* But the poet suddenly put his pitcher down, took a log of wood and threw it at the water-trough. The snake went inside the hole at a lightning speed. The poet further says that he thinks the log did not hurt it. But, he regrets doing this act of cruelty.

* The poet concludes by saying that he shall apologize for his petty behaviour and will be very happy to have the snake as his guest.

*The poem ‘Snake’ teaches us that we should always go with our natural human instincts and honour and respect all living beings.

Themes 

*Lack of feeling and love 

The theme of the poem is that our feeling of love sympathy was crushed by our social education. Man kills other animals just to prove his bravery and manly hood. This is not humanity. 

Man should not kill other animals for his fun because every creature has the right to live in this world like a human being. We should not interfere with other's lives. They have their own likes and dislikes. Every creature of God whats freedom and we should not interfere with their lives.

* Conflict between rational thinking and heartily thinking 

The poem presents a conflict between the rational and intuitive. education dictates that snakes must e destroyed because of their harmful nature. Intuition delights in its physical attraction and royal bearing. The poet accepts the voice of his education and attacks the snake only to regret his mean and vulgar attack.