Lawrence Snake
The duality of the last part in the poem - where he reflects on the pettiness of his actions - can be seen as a result of the contrast between a crisis response which is ‘appropriate’ (attacking the snake as education and social convention would prescribe), and a crisis response which is ‘manly,’ that is allowing the snake freedom to traverse the area and leave in peace.
His poem manages to combine subtle observations of a short, tension-filled drama with the insights of a moral thinker and writer. Perhaps what is most disturbing about the poem is not that Lawrence was indecisive about what to do, but that a poisonous snake presents an inimitable foe, and that Lawrence for all his bravado was lucky to have escaped with the conclusion that he acted too meanly.D.H.LAWRENCE’S ‘ SNAKE’ Perhaps D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) is a misunderstood writer. This is not to claim that the writer has understood him correctly. After all it is a fashion for any critic of literature, and surely the writer is not one, to claim that only he/she has understood an author correctly and all others have either misunderstood or partly understood. D.H. Lawrence is more known for his novels than for his poetic abilities. If we think that the great writer was obsessed with sex or his works were mainly about sexuality, we will be mistaken. No doubt, D. H. Lawrence was quite serious about the question of relationship between sexes and its impact on human life. A healthy understanding of the human sexuality is a serious question for a healthy life. But mankind had to pay a hefty tuition fees before it understood this fact. It needed a Freud to explain to it the significance of it all. The religious priests thought that mankind was immoral till they came into the scene to preach them morality, particularly sexual morality. But this is a big topic. Let me come to the main question.‘Snake’ is a poem written by D. H. Lawrence running to some eighty lines. It is about his act of attacking a snake that
His poem manages to combine subtle observations of a short, tension-filled drama with the insights of a moral thinker and writer. Perhaps what is most disturbing about the poem is not that Lawrence was indecisive about what to do, but that a poisonous snake presents an inimitable foe, and that Lawrence for all his bravado was lucky to have escaped with the conclusion that he acted too meanly.D.H.LAWRENCE’S ‘ SNAKE’ Perhaps D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) is a misunderstood writer. This is not to claim that the writer has understood him correctly. After all it is a fashion for any critic of literature, and surely the writer is not one, to claim that only he/she has understood an author correctly and all others have either misunderstood or partly understood. D.H. Lawrence is more known for his novels than for his poetic abilities. If we think that the great writer was obsessed with sex or his works were mainly about sexuality, we will be mistaken. No doubt, D. H. Lawrence was quite serious about the question of relationship between sexes and its impact on human life. A healthy understanding of the human sexuality is a serious question for a healthy life. But mankind had to pay a hefty tuition fees before it understood this fact. It needed a Freud to explain to it the significance of it all. The religious priests thought that mankind was immoral till they came into the scene to preach them morality, particularly sexual morality. But this is a big topic. Let me come to the main question.‘Snake’ is a poem written by D. H. Lawrence running to some eighty lines. It is about his act of attacking a snake that