D. H Lawrence's 'snake' Flashcards
State the Key info on D. H Lawrence
Lawrence was an English writer and poet. His collected works represent, among other things, an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation.
Lawrence’s writing explores issues such as sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity, and instinct.
State D. H Lawrence’s Poem
- Snake
What is Lawrence’s ‘Snake’ centred around?
The titles incredibly simplistic + describes a speaker’s various interactions with a snake that came to drink at his water-trough.
D.H. Lawrence is combating social structure through the symbolic use of a snake. Eventually the man acknowledges that is is indeed fear of the snake, not respect, that has him waiting. He hurls a log at the snake. The snake, shocked and angry, leaves the trough; but we end up feeling remorse for the snake.Lawrence seems to be mocking society through his use of the snake. The snake represents the upper class while he, D.H. Lawrence, is just a middle class worker.
The theme of this poem is the “liability of human education.” Explanation: In the poem, “Snake” Lawrence appreciates the beauty of nature. He describes the innocence and purity of nature as compared to the human world which is corrupt.
The first line begins describing the water trough. The use of easy syntactics means the lines don’t flow however they reflect the uneasiness of the snake + the man’s dynamic.
In stanza 3 the tone shifts to slowly start describing every aspect of the snake + it becomes poignant + reflecting upon the snake seems to change + alter the many in some respects.
In the eighth stanza, the speaker presents the reader with a number of questions. These outline the contrast between his “voice of education” and his own current feelings towards the snake. He is trying to understand why he feels the way he does.
He is worried that he is showing “cowardice” by not daring to kill the snake. The ninth stanza is the return of the negative and violent voice. It tells him that the only reason he is holding back from killing the snake is that he is afraid. While this poem is clearly an example of man versus nature, it is also a perfect insight into the ways that man comes up against man, self against self.
The darkness of the hole seems to spread up to the speaker who feels horrified at the snake’s retreat. It “Overcame” him when the snake turned his back.
How did Lawrence structure ‘Snake’?
Snake is a 16 stanza poem that is separated into stanzas of varying lengths. Some of these stanzas contain two lines, while the longest stretches out to seventeen.
They are all written in free verse. The meter changes throughout, allowing Lawrence to alter the speed with which a reader moves through the poem.
State the key poetic devices utilised by Lawrence in ‘Snake’
Alliteration - one of the most prevalent techniques Lawrence utilises ie in the first line of the second stanza where the letter “s” is used three times in a row: “Strange-scented shade.
Assonance - Assonance, as well as its partner, consonance, are a way of providing a text with a sense of rhythm without a structured metre.The structure of the poem also mimicks the snake itself, its looseness and remains flowing.
Sibilance - reflecting the hissing sounds of the snake itself
Anthropomorphism - Lawrence anthropomorphises the snake “He lifted his head from his drinking”
- Repetition
- Violent imagery
The poem ends with “And i immediately regretted it” - this is the moral climax of the poem “i despised myself and the voices”
