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In this lengthy blank verse poem, Lawrence describes an incident in his life in which he comes across a
snake at his water trough in Sicily.
Immediately he is caught between two forces: one which demands that he should kill the snake; the other
which demands admiration for it.
Lawrence eventually hurls a log at the snake, and the reptile quickly slithers away into a crack in a garden
wall. Immediately the poet is angry with himself for allowing the voices of social prejudice to get the better
of him.
Indeed, he realises that he has missed such a wonderful opportunity to play host to one of the most
beautiful creatures in life.
ABOUT THE POET
David Herbert Lawrence was born in Nottinghamshire in September 1885, the fourth child of an
uneducated coal miner.
This working class background, together with constant friction with his illiterate and drunken father,
provided him much material for his later poetry, novels and short stories.
He initially went to Beauvale Board School but then won a scholarship to attend Nottingham High School.
His first employment was as a junior clerk at a surgical appliances factory until forced to resign because
of T.B. It was during his period of convalescence that he gained his extreme love for reading, writing and
poetry.
From 1902 to 1906, he served as a student teacher in his hometown of Eastwood, whereupon he studied
and acquired a teaching certificate from University College Nottingham.
It was during those years that he wrote his first poems, some short stories, and a novel which was
published as The White Peacock.
The young Lawrence hated teaching -- a theme made clear in his poem "Last Lesson of the
Afternoon" -- but luckily his writing ability caught the eye of major publishers which enabled him to
follow a professional career as a writer and an artist.
During the time of the 1st World War, Lawrence was accused of spying for the Germans and was
constantly harassed by the British authorities. As soon as the war ended, therefore, he left England to live
in Italy.
He died of T.B. in March 1930 while at a sanatorium in France. He was just 45 years of age.
He had achieved a massive reputation as a novelist and a poet. His most famous books were Sons
and Lovers and Lady Chatterly's Lover.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
Lawrence opens his work with a statement about the heat.
- Comment on how the poet uses the concept of heat throughout the poem. (6)
[Need help?]
Think of the following:
- in the distance the volcanic mountain, Etna, is smoking;
- with so much volcanic action, it would seem that beneath the ground there is molten magma;
It would seem that Lawrence is deliberately following the traditional interpretation that the snake comes
from hell, and from the fires of hell deep underground. This would make it an evil creature.
As the poem progresses, however, one realises that the poet does not believe this at all. The heat
therefore is a red herring, something to get the reader to follow the traditional belief about snakes,
whereas the poet will then argue against it.
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"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."
- Comment on the two voices in the poet's mind. (6)
[Need help?]
Lawrence was distrustful of common education. Education would teach us to fear snakes, to associate
them with the serpent of Eden. As such, snakes should be killed. Indeed, most people have a natural
tendency to kill snakes!
On the other hand, Lawrence believed in the inner power of conscience which tells us what is truly right
or wrong. The inner voice in him suggested that snakes are beautiful creatures, equal to humans in the
realm of creation, and even gods.
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- Analyse the evolution of the poet's conception of the snake as he presents it in this
poem. (4)
[Need help?]
The snake arrives as a guest for which the poet feels honoured. The snake looks around like a god.
Finally he becomes like a king about to be crowned.
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"He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do,
And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do."
- The poet twice compares the snake to cattle. Why does he do so? (4)
[Need help?]
Does his comparison of the snake to cattle have anything to do with the innocense of the cattle, and their
tranquillity? Or is it that cattle are accepted as part and parcel of the human environment? We accept
cattle -- but why then do we not accept snakes?
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"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."
- Why does the poet speak of "that dreadful hole" and "horrid black hole". How does this
choice of words increase our understanding of the poet's feelings? (4)
[Need help?]
This would appear to be another reference to a dislike that the poet has for the hole into which the snake
is attempting to disappear. Is it a case of the voices of education getting the upper hand with him?
Education links the snake to evil, and therefore the snake-hole is somehow linked to the shadowy
underworld of the dead and hell -- and therefore with the devil. It is therefore "dreadful" and
"horrid".
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- Comment on the poet's use of rhythm in this stanza to put across his message. (4)
[Need help?]
The stanza begins with a smoothness which imitates the snake's leisurely movement. The poet then
throws the log, causing the snake to convulse in terror. The rhythm itself is then convulsed, followed by
the measure of a wounded creature staggering towards its hole and protection.
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- What language device or figure of speech is used in "I picked up a clumsy log"? In what way
can the log be said to be "clumsy"? (4)
[Need help?]
Is this a transferred epithet?
It is not the log that is clumsy but rather the poet who threw it and missed. One could also argue that it
is a example of personification, the log becoming a clumsy person because it misses the snake.
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- Why did the poet regret his actions? (4)
[Need help?]
Lawrence has already shown us that he despises the voices of his education and yet he now gives in to
these very voices and hurls the log at the snake. He therefore has to despise himself for being so weak
and acting against his own conscience.
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"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."
- Lawrence perceived of the snake differently from the way in which most Christians perceive it. Explain
carefully how this is so. (10)
[Need help?]
Lawrence has raised the snake first to the level of a guest, then to a person, and finally to a god. Now he
speaks of the snake as a king, but one which is not recognised as such because "education"
refuses to honour the snake with its true value.
There is another possibility, however, but one which some would hesitate to state. Take a look at the
words which give us the clue: "king"; "exile"; "underworld"; most importantly
"expiate".
"Expiate" is a theological word: Jesus Christ expiates the world from sin. The word is seldom used
in any other sense and Lawrence was fully aware of this theological terminology.
Does the snake therefore take on a religious overtone, an image of Jesus Christ himself? In early
Christian tradition, Jesus died on the cross, went down into the underworld to make contact with the spirits
of the dead, then rose again and ascended into heaven -- to be crowned king of heaven and earth.
Is this what Lawrence is saying of the snake? If so, far from equating the snake with evil as many
Christians do, the poet finds the snake as a symbol of Jesus Christ himself.
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Can you think of any good reason why Lawrence would use free verse in this poem rather than
a controlled rhyming scheme? (4)
[Need help?]
Free verse is a useful tool for the poet because it allows him to explore ideas and images in the freedom
which the more contrived rhyming verses would not allow.
The poet wishes the reader to explore the world of human consciousness but in a way that is not bound
up with any form of restriction that education would demand.
In a sense, therefore, education and a contrived rhyming scheme are synonymous, whereas free verse
allows for the freedom of conscience, a freedom which his love for the snake would provide.
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