Question

summary of snake class 10

Answer 1

A snake visited the poet's water trough on a hot afternoon to quench his thirst. The poet who had also gone to the trough to fill water in a pitcher waited for the snake since he had come at the trough prior to the poet.The snake rested his throat upon the stone bottom and sipped the water into his slack long body. After drinking water, he raised his head just like cattle do and flashed his forked tongue, thought for a moment and then bent down to drink some more water.
Education and social.conventions make the poet think that the golden brown poisonous snake must be killed and that as a brave man he must undertake the task of killing the snake. However, the poet instinctively likes the snake, treats him like a guest and feels honoured that it had come to drink at his water trough.

Answer 2

D. H. Lawrence is well-known as a novelist, critic, poet, story-writer and painter. He composed this poem in 1923  and gives the details when he was confronted by a snake in Sicily.

The poem is written in free verse and is unrhymed.  A snake visited the poet’s water-trough on a hot afternoon to quench his thirst. The poet had also gone there to fill  water in a pitcher. He waited for the snake since he had come at the trough prior to the poet.

The snake sipped water  into his long body. As he was drinking water, the poet was reminded of his education and social conventions which  said that the golden brown poisonous snake must be killed.

However, the poet instinctively liked the snake, treated him like a guest and did not kill him. The voice of education  inside the poet told him that it was the fear of the snake that made him refrain from killing him.  

After drinking water to its satisfaction, the snake raised his head, looked around and proceeded to curve round and  move away from the water trough.

As he put his head into the hole to retreat into the earth, the poet was filled with  a protest against the idea of the snake withdrawing into his hole. The poet put down his pitcher, picked up a log and  hurled it at the snake. The snake twisted violently and vanished into the hole.

The poet instantly felt sorry for this act and cursed the voice that had urged him to kill the snake. He felt much  like the Ancient Mariner who had killed the Albatross for no reason.

He wished that the snake would come back. He  regretted having missed the opportunity of knowing one of the lords of life. He was guilt-ridden and felt that he had to  atone for the measure of his action of throwing a log at the snake.