Extra Questions: A snake came to my water-trough For there he was at the trough before me. 1. Why was the poet to wait? The poet had to wait at his water trough because already a snake was drinking water at the trough. Out of respect for the guest, the poet was to wait. 2. Why does the poet accept that he was to wait? The poet could have driven the snake away, but he had a fair sense of wrong and right. He considered the snake equal to him, an equal inhabitant of the earth and therefore he decided to wait. 3. What were the thoughts that lined up in the poet s mind on encountering a snake at his water trough? On encountering the snake at his water trough, the first reaction the poet was certainly fear and then, when he could not stop admiring the harmless snake. He felt morally obliged to wait for the snake until it finished drinking. 2 He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom And trailed his yellow-brown.. 1. Where did the snake come from? 2. Why is the snake entirely personified throughout the poem? 3. How does the poet describe the snake s movement?
4. How did the snake drink the tap water? 5. Who was the second-comer? 6. What is very special about the poet that makes him think that he was a second comer? OR What is the poet s world view? 3 He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do, And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do, And flickered his two-forked tongue From his lips, and mused a moment, And stooped and drank a little more, Being earth-brown, earth-golden From the burning bowels of the earth On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking. 1. Why is the snake s lifting its head compared to that of cattle? 2. Why is the snake said to have come from the burning bowels of the earth? What does the poet convey with the mention of Etna smoking? 4 The voice of my education said to me He must be killed, For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, The gold are venomous. And voices in me said, If you were a man You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off. 1. What does the poet mean by the voice of his education?
2. Why do people kill golden snakes in Sicily? 3. What is the reason why voices in the poet advised him to kill the snake? 5 But must I confess how I liked him, How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, To drink at my water-trough And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless, Into the burning bowels of this earth! 1. Why was the poet happy to have the snake in his garden? 2. Why was the poet glad that the snake would go without thanking him? Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him? Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him? Was it humility, to feel so honored? 1. Why was the poet not able to find the reason for his sparing the snake? 2. According to you, which of the reasons above best suits for the answer? I felt so honoured. And yet those voices: If you were not afraid, you would kill him! And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more That he should seek my hospitality From out the dark door of the secret earth. 1. What was the poet s feeling honored to have the snake in his garden? 2. Why does the poet refer to the snake s hole as secret earth?
He drank enough, And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken, And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black, Seeming to lick his lips, And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air, And slowly turned his head, And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice a dream, Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face. 1. Why was the snake extremely glad after drinking water at the trough? 2. Why is the snake compared to a God? 9 And as he put his head into that dreadful hole, And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders, and entered farther, A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into that horrid black hole, Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing himself after, Overcame me now his back was turned. 1. Why is the snake s hole said to be dreadful? OR What was the poet s horror? 2. What did the poet protest? Why did he find himself protesting? I looked round, I put down my pitcher, I picked up a clumsy log And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter. 1. How did the poet protest against the snake s withdrawal? 2. Why is the log said to be clumsy? 3. What was the poet s intention behind throwing the log?
4. Bring out the poet s half-mindedness while considering an attack upon the snake? I think it did not hit him, But suddenly that part of him that was left behind Convulsed in undignified haste. 1. Why does the poet think that there was certain undignified haste in the snake s movements? Writhed like lightning, and was gone Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front, At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination. 1. What was the snake s response to the sound of the clatter? And immediately I regretted it. I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act! I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education. 1. What act did the poet immediately regret? 2. What made the poet think that he had done something mean? 3. Why does the poet call his education, accursed? And I thought of the albatross And I wished he would come back, my snake. 1. Why did the poet think about the albatross? 2. Why did the poet wish the snake came back? For he seemed to me again like a king, Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld, Now due to be crowned again. 1. Why does the snake appear to the poet as a king in exile?
2. How is the snake due to be crowned again? And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords of life. And I have something to expiate a pettiness. 1. Why is the snake said to be one of the lords of life?. 2. And I have something to expiate, a pettiness is the last and most powerful line of the poem. What does the poet expiate?