 Hello dear learners, welcome to today's program. I am Dr. Pallavi Gugoy of Krishnakanta Handik State Department University. Today I shall take up unit 6, title DH Lawrence and the poem prescribed is titled Snake. We shall discuss the explanation of the poem Snake in this particular video. The unit is taken from the course journey English semester 1 block 1. So let us quickly begin. First I shall start with a table of contents where we shall discuss the learning objectives followed by the explanation of the poem and questions to check your progress and their references. Coming to the learning objectives after going through this unit the learner will be able to explain the summary of the poem Snake and describe the poet's thoughts and reflections. Coming to the explanation of the poem I am sure you must have gone through the poem once. So the poem Snake was first published in the collection entitled Birds, Beasts and Flowers in the year 1923 which was written in Sicily. In the opening line of the poem the first image that we receive is that of a snake as observed by the narrator at a close distance. The snake in its natural thirst for water on a burning hot day takes a drink at the water trough. You may perhaps imagine a snake relieving its thirst under the shade of a tree well before anyone would approach a water trough. Thus the narrator is taken by surprise at the unexpected sight and stands at a safe distance waiting and watching the snake under the shade of a strange scented quote unquote strange scented carob tree. Here the snake is seen to enjoy its right of being the first at the water trough and keeping a person on hold while it completes its share of drink. The narrator waits with a picture and speculates on how the yellowish brown snake must have crawled out from the crack in a mud ball and the narrator wonders how it had slithered to the edge of the stone trough on its soft underbelly resting its throat on the trough for a drink of water. The trough described in the poem is probably made up of stone and cement which acts like a storage of water from the taps. The snake rests its throat on the stone bottom to sip the water softly without a second to relieve its thirst. The narrator almost immediately personifies the snake with the use of the term someone quote unquote someone who reaches the trough a little earlier than the quote unquote second comma the second comma who has to wait for his turn. While the snake went about its normal activity without being disturbed or causing any form of disturbance the narrator's mind became preoccupied with thoughts of disturbing the snake from its place. Thus one can easily note the difference of the snake which held a calm composure and the narrator who had unknowingly turned into a potential danger. The poet then reasons that unlike the harmless black snakes in Italy the golden ones were venomous which only justified killing it. The narrator's natural instincts directed him to act rationally and kill the snake. However the narrator also admits how he had a liking for the silent guest who had quietly taken a drink from his trough and left peacefully after satisfying its thirst. This the narrator felt was his rational mind and his education that had unconsciously trained his mind to do so. The narrator tries to examine his mind to search for the reasons that had stopped him from killing the snake. He questions himself on whether it is his lack of courage or whether it was his fascination of the snake. Whatever the reasons were the narrator reiterates that he had somehow felt honored to have had the chance of being hospitable to a visiting guest. However the voices in his head did not allow him to be at peace which is why he had to assure himself that it was not his sense of fear that had stopped him from taking an action. Yet another reiterated description of the snake shows how the mind of the narrator is absolutely captivated by the image of the snake. The narrator then observes how the snake takes a momentary glance at the surrounding area and turns its length slowly towards the direction of the mud wall. The fact that the snake withdrew to its retreat and turned its back on him made the narrator angry, leading him to pick up a piece of log and hurl it towards the water chow. But just as it had entered the hole the narrator felt a strong urge of protesting the snake's unwaitful departure. But it really wasn't so. It was just a perception of the narrator. This was in a bit to scare and make the snake realize what it had done. But the snake was not even aware of it. The snake swiftly made its way and disappeared into the mouth of the crack in the wall. Strangely enough even the sight of the snake in fear of its life continued to fascinate the narrator on that hot summer noon but his feelings were not without a sense of regret. This made him dislike not just his own actions but the modes of education that had molded his thoughts and behavior. So this brings us to the end of the unit. Here we shall discuss the questions to check your progress. Starting with question number one named the anthology in which the poem Snake was published. Question number two where does the narrator find the snake? Question number three what does the snake do near the water chow? Question number four what according to the narrator had led him to react towards the snake? Question number five why does the narrator experience a sense of regret? Here are the references. I hope you will go through BA English graduate self-learning material that is the SLM of Journal English block 1 unit 6 semester 1. Thank you dear learners.