In the poem THE SNAKE, did the poets emotions overpower his rationalism?
Answers
Yes, the poet let his emotions overpower his rationalism, at least three times in the poem.
The first time was when the poet had just reached the water trough. Though he had spotted the snake, he stood there, admiring it, instead of moving to a safer location. It could have possibly cost him his life. He himself acknowledges the fact that the snake was ‘venomous’. Therefore, it was not a very rational idea to keep standing there, looking at the snake.
Additionally, though the rational voices in the poet’s brain kept prompting him to ‘finish’ off the snake with a stick, the poet could not do so. Instead, he was experiencing mixed feelings about the snake. The poet felt ‘honoured’, ‘afraid’ and was so much in awe of the snake that he even calls him ‘a god’. This again is an example of the poet being carried away by his emotions.
Further, when the snake is already on his way to the hole, the poet behaves very irrationally and throws a piece of log at the reptile. There was no need to attack it since it was already leaving the place. To add to it, the poet then feels terribly guilty about what he had done and almost curses himself.
Given the way the poem shows the poet struggling between his emotions and rationality, it becomes very clear that he has let his emotions rule his actions and has felt guilty about being rational.
In the poem Snake, the poet’s emotions did overpower his rationalism.
He is having a dual attitude towards the snake.
At one hand he is happy that the snake had come to his place to drink water from the trough and on the other hand, he fears and throws a log to the snake without knowing if it is poisonous or not.
The emotion overpowered the rationale of the poet.