Snake by D.H. Lawrence

Snake by D.H. Lawrence

The poem Snake written by D.H. Lawrence tells about an occasion between man and snake. A snake comes one day to drink out the water trough and the human contemplates whether or not to harm this honorable yet dangerous creature.

Although the poem has no rhythm or rhyme the detailed words in the poem create vivid images in the reader’s mind to easily visualize what the speaker is referring to. Just as D.H. writes “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” the reader notices the actions of the snake and it’s nonchalant attitude about drinking from another's water trough.

The reader is also able to connect with the human to understand their struggle between following personal decisions or obeying what society deems as right. “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.” These lines allow the reader to understand the speaker’s hardship and frustration against feeling something that was not typically desirable.

In deeper analysis, the snake could possibly serve as the poet’s alter ego; the person the poet wants to be, but can’t. The writer refers to the snake as a “king” although his human education says to kill it. The writer wants to be powerful and dominant yet graceful and dignified but the voices of society urge him to repress these thoughts for he must not be so demanding.

In the poem, the writer is overcome by the constant bashing of his desired self and tries to extinguish the problem by killing the snake. Instead he only runs the snake away and is regretful for conforming to the ideas of his human education. In the last lines, “And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords Of life. And I have something to expiate; A pettiness” the writer has missed his opportunity to become his ultimate true self and must make up for the damage he has done.