CBSE Class 10 Poetry Snake

Given below is the summary of the poem Snake in short paragraphs. However  they are jumbled. Work in pairs and put the summary into a logical sequence.

a) After drinking water to satisfaction, the snake raised his head dreamily and flickered his  forked tongue and licked his lips. The snake looked around like a God and then slowly  proceeded to curve round and move away from the water trough.

b) The poet felt much like the ancient mariner who had killed the albatross for no reason.  He wishes that the snake would come back. He thinks of the snake as a king in exile who has to be crowned again. He also regrets having missed his opportunity of knowing  and understanding one of the lords of life.

c) As the snake 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 with  great alacrity vanished into the hole in the wall.

d) 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. 

e) The voices of education inside the poet tell him that it was the fear for the snake that  made him refrain from killing him. However, the poet feels that though he was quite  afraid of the snake, he did actually feel honoured that a snake had come to seek his  hospitality from the deep recesses of the earth.

f) He is guilt-ridden and feels that he has to atone for the meanness of his action of  throwing a log at the snake.

g) 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. 

h) 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.

i) The poet instantly felt sorry for his unrefined and contemptible act and cursed the  voices of education and civilization that had shaped his thought processes and urged  him to kill the snake.

j) 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. The poet questions himself and  wonders whether his not daring to kill the snake proved that he was a coward and  whether his desire to talk to the snake reflected his perversity.

Please refer to the link below - CBSE Class 10 Poetry Snake