Through the detailed contents of the poem the thoughts and feelings of the poet are presented clearly. As D.H. Lawrence feels guilty of his attempt to kill the snake, “And I have something to expiate; a pettiness”. The reasons for Lawrence to feel and think this way are shown to the reader by the diction he uses. The poet uses particular words to emphasise the snake’s innocence and is therefore a method he uses to show the ignorance of his actions and the reason for his guilt. This is shown in the first stanza:
“ A snake came to my water-trough
On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat,
To drink there.”
This is because the repetition of the word “hot” and including the fact that the temperature was so high that people wore light clothing, “pyjamas” and showing that the heat was so unbearable that the snake was innocent to quench his thirst in the hot weather by going to the water trough as this was a necessary action in order for it to survive.
D.H. Lawrence’s thoughts and feelings of the snake are communicated to the reader by his use of punctuation. He uses three commas in the second line of the first stanza giving the impression that the snake is moving slowly and pausing every so often as well as showing its desperation for water. The image therefore created shows us D.H. Lawrence’s thoughts of the snake being similar to a human being as is presents the snake reacting in the same way a human would in such a hot environment. D.H. Lawrence’s thoughts of the snake being similar to a human being are communicated though his diction. This is because he uses pronouns though out the poem, “he”, “him” and “his” giving the impression that the poet realises a sense of similarity between the snake and himself. Therefore as the poem is written after the incident, the poet communicates his thoughts and feelings that the snake should have been treated equally as he compares it to a person. He also gives an identity to the snake on occasions to emphasise how wrong his actions were and his guilt for doing what he did. By giving the snake an identity communicates to the reader that the fact that the poet tried to murder a human which is the reason for his guilt.
D.H. Lawrence also communicates his feelings and thoughts through he image he presents the reader with. Even by addressing the snake as a human being the poet still gives us a clear image of the snake. He includes body parts which a snake and human being both possess which suggests that the poet saw the snake as a being that was stereotyped.
The image which D.H. Lawrence presents us with contradicts the voice of his education, “He must be killed”, which has taught him to hate and kill snakes. However the snake is also said to be beautiful, “Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth”, this shows that the snake is beautiful as the poet uses alliteration. It also gives the image of the snake being long as colours mentioned created the patterns on the snake’s skin.
D.H. Lawrence compares the snake to “…a king in exile…” after throwing a log at it showing that the snake doesn’t belong and is an outsider who is banished from this water trough. Through these comparisons the poet communicates his thoughts that the snake was treated badly as it doesn’t have a habit and that was the reason for it being at the water trough and that the snake is unimportant and should not have been sent away.
In the poem “Medallion” Sylvia Plath communicates her thoughts and feelings of the beauty and the death of a snake that was killed. She communicates the beauty of the snake through the image she creates, firstly the title she gave her poem, “Medallion” is a method she uses to suggest that the snake is decorative and is well-shaped like a medallion. This leads into the reader that the snake was a unique creature, which should not have been killed.
Sylvia Plath describes the snake in detail in order for the reader to picture the snake and understand the poet’s thoughts and feelings. This is because by describing the snake as, “the bronze snake lay on the sun”, the poet communicates to us that she thinks of the snake being valuable and precious.
The poet communicates that she believes that the snake is beautiful by comparing it to a tongue, “Tongue a rose-coloured arrow…his little vermilion eye ignited with a glassed flame…” this creates an image of the snake with bright red eyes and his tongue. The poet also compares the tongue to one of the most beautiful flowers. This shows that she believes that the snake is again beautiful. Also by giving the snake an identity using pronouns she believes that snake should have an identity due to its beauty.
Sylvia Plath uses comparisons to give us an image of the snake and communicates her thoughts of it being beautiful, however she uses this method to show how potentially dangerous the snake is. She does this through the content of the poem because she includes the description of the snake’s tongue and this can be seen as lethal as snakes swallow their prey whole, this suggests that the snake is dangerous.
By comparing the snake to a medallion, Sylvia Plath is suggesting that the snake is a rare creature as medallions are difficult to find. She shows the snake being of a unique kind, “going under the chainmail”, this gives the image that the snake’s skin is separated like under laid rugs.
The poet’s thoughts and feelings are shown through the layout of the poem. This is because the poem the poem can be divided into two sections. The first four stanzas including the first line of the fifth stanza gives a description of the snake’s beauty in majority to the rest of the poem. Through the layout Sylvia Plath is communicating that although the snake was beautiful, it has now lost its beauty as it starts to decompose, “the way the sun ruins a trout”, by comparing the snake to a trout.
Plath communicates her thoughts and feelings towards the snake clearly by the content and diction she uses. “ Knifelike, he was chaste enough, pure death’s metal. The yardman’s flung brick perfected his laugh”, this is because she clearly shows her thoughts, as she believes that the brick that hit the snake made it look as if it was laughing.
As she does not include research about why the snake was killed which communicates to us her thoughts and feelings that the snake was therefore wrongly killed. As describing the snake to be dead and having maggots in the snake’s stomach suggests that a creature which once had beauty was destroyed for the wrong reason.
