SNAKE
MCQ
a) (iii) is as harmless as cattle
b) (iii) it was a really hot day when the snake came
c) (iv) he wants to kill it so that it doesn’t return.
d) (iii) moving slowly
e) (iv) is a majestic creature forced to go into exile by man
f) (iii) the act of the throwing a log of wood at the snake
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING
a) Why does the poet decide to stand and wait
till the snake has finished drinking? What does this tell you about the poet?
Ans: The poet
decides to stand and wait till the snake has finished drinking because he
thinks that the snake came before him. The poet stands waiting with his pitcher
‘I came down with my pitcher’ and feels that there is some guest at the water
trough. The poet feels himself honoured that someone has come to drink water from
his trough. This shows that the poet is a lover of nature who sees the snake as
a big creation of nature.
b) In stanzas 2 & 3, the poet gives a
vivid description of the snake by using suggestive expressions. What picture of
the snake do you form on the basis of this description?
Ans: The snake that
came to the water-trough down from a fissure in the earth wall was yellow-brown
slack, soft bellied. He sipped with his straight mouth, softly drank through
his straight gums, into his slack long body, silently.
c) How does the poet describe the day and the
atmosphere when he saw the snake?
Ans: It was a hot
day. The poet came out in pyjamas because of the heat, to fill his pitcher; it
seemed to be a day of ‘Sicilian July’, with Etna smoking. The atmosphere was
gloomy when the snake emerged from the fissure to drink water at the trough.
d) What does the poet want to convey by
saying that the snake emerges from the ‘burning bowels of the earth’?
Ans: The poet wants
to convey that the snake came out of the dark hell. He means that the snake
comes out of the fissure from the bottom of the earth which is all dark and
black as hell.
e) Do you think the snake was conscious of
the poet’s presence? How do you know?
Ans: The snake was
not conscious of the poet’s presence for it came very peacefully trailing his
yellow-brown belly down over the edge of the stone water trough. It rested its
throat upon the bottom where the water was dripping and sipped with his
straight mouth softly into his slack long body.
f) How do we know that the snake’s thirst was
satiated? Pick out the expressions that convey this.
Ans: The snake’s
thirst was satiated for, after drinking silently he lifted his head ‘as cattle
do’ satisfied and flickered his forked tongue from his lips ‘as one who has
drunken’ and slowly proceeded to draw his slow length curving round and climb
again the broken bank of my wall-face.
g) The poet has a dual attitude towards the
snake. Why does he experience conflicting emotions on seeing the snake?
Ans: On seeing the
snake the poet has conflicting emotions. There is something that actually wants
him to like the snake but at the same time his education preaches him to kill
it as it might be dangerous to him. He also sees it as his guest and feels
honored that a guest has come to drink water. Hence, he is covered with guilt
after throwing the log on the poor innocent snake.
h) The poet is filled with horror and protest
when the snake prepares to retreat and bury itself in the ‘horrid black’,
‘dreadful’ hole. In the light of this statement, bring out the irony of his act
of throwing a log at the snake.
Ans: The snake
moved slowly into the hole and suddenly the poet ‘picked up a log and threw it
at the water trough to kill the snake’. The snake hearing the ‘clatter’ hastily
moved ‘into the black hole’. The poet now regretted his action and blamed
himself for acting the way he did. He wished the snake could come back for him
to crown it like a king.
i) The poet seems to be full of admiration
and respect for the snake. He almost regards him like a majestic God. Pick out
at least four expressions form the poet that reflects these emotions.
Ans: The poet is
full of admiration and respect for the snake. He respects it like a guest who
has come to his water-trough to drink water. He ‘stands and waits’ to fill his
pitcher and tells the snake to drink because it came before him. He considers
him ‘like a god’ and wishes the snake would come back so that he could crown
him ‘like a king’. He feels he had missed his ‘chance with one of the lords’,
when the snake recedes back into its hole.
j) What is the difference between the snake’s
movement at the beginning of the poem and later when the poet strikes it with a
log of wood? You may use relevant vocabulary from the poem to highlight the difference.
Ans: When the snake
comes to the water-trough he ‘trails his yellow-brown soft-belly’ smoothly down
silently. And when he has drunk the water he looked around like a god slowly
proceeding to go into the fissure but when the poet picked up a ‘clumsy log’
and threw at the snake it ‘writhed like lightning and was gone into the black
hole’.
k) The poet experiences feelings of
self-derision, guilt and regret after hitting the snake. Pick out expressions those
expressions that suggest this. Why does he feel like this?
Ans: After hitting
the snake the poet has feelings of self-derision, guilt and regret. He blames
the voices of education that lures him to hit the snake. He thinks how ‘paltry,
how vulgar, what a mean act!’ He despises himself and his inner voice curses
human education.
l) You have already read Coleridge’s poem
‘the ancient mariner in which an albatross is killed by the mariner. Why does
the poet make an allusion to the albatross?
Ans: The poet
places the blame on the voice of education for his action to have tempted him
into hitting the snake and hopes he need not pay for his negative action like
the sailor that killed ‘the albatross’. The poet wishes the snake to come back
for him to crown it like a king but believes it would never do so and sees it ‘like
a king in exile’.
m) ‘I have something to expiate’-explain.
Ans: Although the
poet hits the snake under the influence of his education he feels sorry and
wishes the snake would come back so the poet could crown it like a king but he misses
the chance. He thinks he has to make amends for this petty mistake.
