The Snake Trying Summary Class 9 English

About the Poet- W.W.E. Ross

Geophysicist and poet William Wrightson Eustace Ross was born in Canada in 1894 and died in 1966. Some have referred to him as "the first modern Canadian poet" since he was the first published poet in Canada to compose Imagist poetry and later the first to write surrealist verse. Ross's focus on Canada's physical landscape shows his love of the natural world in his poems. He only released two collections during his lifetime: Lacnoics in 1930 and Sonnets in 1932. Most of Ross's writing was published after 1930 at editors' demand in literary magazines and anthologies. Today regarded as Canada's first Imagist poet; Ross received little attention when he was alive.

Introduction

Despite the poem's simplicity and silliness, it leaves readers with a meaningful message. The author attempts to convey in the poem that not all snakes are harmful; some are fairly harmless, and they won't come toward you on their own to bite you. Snakes won't bite humans if they aren't disturbed; they only do so to protect themselves. Like all other species, they are also poor creatures. On the other hand, humans remain driven by their natural fear of snakes and would chase after and kill any snake they encounter. The snake is considered by man a threat to his very existence and therefore needs to be eliminated at all costs. That, however, is wrong. Thus, the poet attempts to express through this poem that not all snakes are poisonous and won't attack us until they are provoked or hurt. If they ever bite humans, they will only be out to protect themselves. However, the majority of them are harmless. However, certain snakes are toxic and may attack people or other animals if harmed or disturbed, resulting in death.

Summary of the Poem

"The snake trying
to escape the pursuing stick,
with sudden curvings of thin
long body. How beautiful
and graceful are his shapes!"

The entire poem revolves around a snake's situation. This poem is a wonderful way of describing a snake's struggle. A snake was relaxing one lovely day close to a water body. A man was also there at that time. He immediately got frightened upon seeing the snake. Assuming the snake would hurt him, he rushed toward the snake with a stick to kill it.

On the other hand, the snake panicked and tried to protect itself. The snake curved his body and slid through the water to rescue himself. Here, the poet tried to express the beauty of nature's creation. When the snake travels its long, thin body across the water, the poet finds it extremely beautiful and interesting.

"He glides through the water away
from the stroke.
O let him go
over the water
into the reeds to hide
without hurt. Small and green
he is harmless even to children."

The snake makes an effort to save himself from getting killed. He tries to cover up the green body behind the bushes. Anybody, whether humans or animals, will do their best to protect them from potential danger. The snake made a similar effort. The poet in the above line feels sorry for the snake. He tries to convince the man to refrain from harming the snake and urges him to let it go. A poet is a sympathetic person who cares deeply about animals. In the following line, he attempts to convey that humans should show empathy towards animals as all animals are not equally harmful.

"Along the sand
he lay until observed
and chased away, and now
he vanishes in the ripples
among the green slim reeds."

The man responds by disregarding the poet's appeal and carrying on with his search for the snake. The man here symbolizes an evil person. The terrible person will not be stopped no matter how hard you try. They continue to do their miserable act. The snake, however, managed to escape the threat and vanished. With this, the search stopped, allowing the snake to escape and survive.

Conclusion of the Poem

W.W.E.Ross aims to convey that we should have compassion for animals through the poem The Snake Trying. Just because an innocent animal is before, we shouldn't justify running after it and killing it; while they are possibly as dangerous as snakes, they rarely cause harm to humans. Instead, since we humans believe these innocent animals would hurt us, we aim to kill them. Instead of trying to harm or kill any living thing, we should appreciate them all and recognize their beauty.