Hunting snake is the poem written by Judith Wright, an Australian environmentalist, who shares her amazing encounter with a great black snake.

gentlest sky” also suggests that the poet loves the nature and respects it too as she has used the adjective “gentlest” to describe the sky. These first two lines also implies that the day had been pleasant and normal until the poet encountered the “great black snake” after which she was mesmerized by him. In the very first line, Wright has used a caesura after “we walked” followed by “and froze half through a pace”. The use of the caesura after walked makes us imagine how stunned they were that they froze right in the middle of their walk. The use of the word “pace” hints that the poet was walking in a steady speed until they were awestruck by the snake which made them “freeze”. The caesura directs us to pause and this also supports the writer’s claim that they “froze half through a pace”. The use of the word “froze” suggests that the poet and her company were really shocked to see the snake that they actually didn’t just stop but they didn’t even move a single millimeter. Usually when something is frozen, it does not even move a bit, so here the poet is creating an effect by using the word froze which implies that she was surprised and may have been scared too because of which she was unable to move. The use of the word ‘reeling’ creates an image among the audience that the snake was slithering smoothly and rhythmically. In the second stanza, the phrase “head down, tongue flickering…” helps us imagine a snake who is desperately looking for his prey. He is so determined about getting his prey that he doesn’t even look anywhere else but in the ground to find his food. It also seems like the snake is concentrating too hard to look for his prey that he isn’t been bothered by anything around him. The use of the word “quested” in the second line of the second stanza of the poem wants again hints the readers that the snake was on a big mission to find his food. The poet could have used the word “search” instead, but the use of the word quest creates a stronger impact among the readers that the snake was really desperate and determined for food. The line “sun glazed…diamond scale” implies that the writer found the snake to be a really beautiful creature. The use of the word “glaze” implies that the snake was shiny and had a lustrous surface which the poet found attractive. The use of the word “diamond” to describe the snakes’ scales suggests that the poet respected the snake a lot and makes the reader feel like the snake was as precious as diamonds itself. This can also be supported by the poet’s choice of the pronoun “him” to describe the snake instead of “it”. Usually, people tend to refer to animals by using the pronoun it, but here it seems that the poet respects and treats animals like human beings by referring to them by using the same pronoun as people do to refer to human beings. The last line of the second stanza “we lost breath to watch him pass” once again suggests that the poet and company were still shocked and spellbound at the sight of the snake. In the first line of the third stanza of the poem, the poet has used “small food” to describe the snake’s prey and it has been quite effective in creating an image among the readers that the snake was so great and big that its size overshadowed all the other creatures. Also by food, the poet could have meant that the food was actually a small dead animal such as maybe a small rat or something which may have been appeared to be really small in front of the mighty snake. “fierce intent” again suggests that the snake was so very determined to get his prey that he also seemed kind of violent and ferocious to get to what he was looking for. “Our eyes went with him as we went” insinuates that the poet was still so focused on the snake that she couldn’t stop looking at him although he already gone from where the poet and her company was. It also suggests that the poet couldn’t just let go of what she had just seen. She also seemed curious to know where the snake would go from there. Finally in the fourth and the last stanza of the poem, there has been changes in the rhyme scheme as well as the meter of the poem. The first line of this poem , “cold, dark… was gone” has a spondaic meter in the first two words of the line with a caesura in between them. The word “cold” ends with a ‘d’ and the word dark begins with a ‘d’ too. This helps the audience imagine the snake to be a scary creature as the word ‘d’ is often used to describe something that is dangerous. Also the use of the word “cold” hints that the snake was a cold blooded animal and a creature with no mercy whatsoever for others. The word “splendid” to describe the departure of the snake has helped to create a picture among the readers that the snake exited brilliantly. It also once again reminds the readers that the poet is awestruck by the snake’s going away as much as when she saw if for the first time. The last line of the poem “…., and went on” suggests that just like the snake was gone, the poet and her company went on too. This might also imply that although strange things do happen in life from time to time, life does go on.