1) Subject matter
The poem is named “The snake” and the poet is Sharon (Jamaica). This poem is about a snake and the poem describes the snake and its movements.
2) Message/purpose
The purpose of this poem is to relate the snake’s appearance and movement to real things. An animal can be looked just normal but they can be compared to objects, environment, humans and other animals.
3) Emotion/feelings
On the first two stanzas, the poet makes the reader feel that the snake is a bad, mean and an awful creature hunting down its prey. A quote relating to this is “Its tongue sticking out, like an arrow ready to strike.” The third stanza opposes the first two stanzas by relating the snake to a gentle creature like this. “Just staring like a newborn sheep”.
4) Technique
The technique Sharon, the poet, used only one technique and it is similes. The whole poem is based on similes and they do not rhyme. A few examples are “Like an arrow ready to strike.”, “Its sinuous movement like hungry eels” and “And like a river flowing”. The poem was very effective because the snake could be clearly pictured as the similar thing.
5) Summary
The impact of the poem on me was strong because it made me think of the snake and the similar things very similar and I thought the description fitted in very well. The poet had achieved her purpose because it had a strong impact on me.
