Alan23
As far as I can see, it's about the fact that man is so distant from nature - he sees a thing that's beautiful, and yet fears it because of his conditioning, so drives it away - then regrets he has done so. Just as modern man often finds elemental atavistic things - like sexuality - disgusting but also craves them.
I guess this could also lead to a second level - replace "nature" with "sexuality" - I'm not so sure it would specifically be homosexuality though - a snake isn't really THAT much like an erect penis - and it's a symbol of loss of innocence if one accepts biblical symbolism.
Mind you that's just my take - I could well be wrong.
btw I read somewhere that the poem is based on a real life experience when Lawrence encountered a snake when he was in Italy.
Currently analyzing D.H. Lawrence's short poem "snake" for english class.I can't decide what the hell is going on in that thing. A very, very sexually repressed homosexual fighting his urges to give into his nature or a critique of man's fear of the unknown and his will to murder anything he does not understand? urgh, normally I debate this kind of thing with a dear friend of mine but he is unavailable, can anyone help me get a better understanding of this poem?
edited 1st Nov '10 6:15:29 PM by thatguythere47
Is using "Julian Assange is a Hillary butt plug" an acceptable signature quote?