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Analysis Of The Poem ' Snake '

Decent Essays

Upon reading and reflecting on the poem “Snake” by D.H. Lawrence, I couldn’t help but feel like the poem hearkens back to Emily Dickinson’s poems “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass” and even “A Bird, Came Down the Walk.” Like Dickinson’s poems there is a recognition of not only the beauty and majesty that is in nature but also the danger that lurks in the unknown. Lawrence’s “Snake”, like Dickinson’s poems, utilizes personification, not only to connect humankind to nature, but also to elevate the serpent to an almost human level. I will focus on the poem “Snake” by D.H Lawrence and explore the ways the speaker in the poem uses this personification, sound devices, allusion, language and even structure to convey the speakers reverence and fear of nature, more specifically the snake or subject in the natural realm. As “Snake” begins we are introduced to the speaker encountering this element of the wild, the snake. Early in the poem, the language utilizes the use of sound devices that not only immerse the reader in the scenario, but also the speaker at the level of the snake. Lines 4-13 simulate a snake’s hiss by employing words beginning with “S,” such as “strange-scented shade” (4), “steps” (5), “slackness soft” (9), “stone” (8-9), and “He sipped with his straight mouth/ Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body/ Silently” (11-13). This poetic device is used later in the poem, however it not only simulates the hiss, but also the slither, “And slowly

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