Educational Galaxy

Snake — EG's own notes, in simple English

Book: Rainbow Bhag-2 (Purani pustak — 2025 se pehle wali) (BSEB, Class 12)  |  Poetry 9  |  Type: Poem  |  Author: D.H. Lawrence

This page carries Educational Galaxy's own original notes — a theme-level summary in simple English, not a copy of the textbook. No official textbook PDF is given here.

Diagram (labels are printed on the image): A snake drinking calmly — a guest, not an enemy.

The snake slipping away — dignity departing.

What the chapter is about

In this poem, D.H. Lawrence describes meeting a snake at his water trough in Sicily. The snake comes to drink, calm and innocent, like a guest. The speaker watches it with wonder and does not want to disturb it.

But the voices of education tell him the snake is dangerous and must be killed. He throws a log at it, and at once regrets his act. He feels he has done something mean and vulgar — he has insulted a king in exile, a creature more dignified than himself.

The lesson is that human education can spoil natural feeling. The speaker's instinct was reverence; his taught fear made him act cruelly, and regret followed.

The poem's drama is a debate inside one mind. The speaker's instinct says: welcome the guest. The voices of education say: kill it, it is dangerous. Lawrence stages that debate at the trough, and the tragedy is that the second voice wins for one moment — long enough for the log to be thrown, though not long enough for the snake to die.

Notice the title's work. The snake is called a king in exile, not a pest, and that royal image reverses the usual hierarchy: the man with the log is vulgar, the snake is dignified. In exams, quote that reversal in your own words — the poem's judgement falls on the thrower, not on the snake.

What you should learn

Understand Lawrence's snake — instinctive reverence spoiled by taught fear, and the regret that follows.

Chart / Table

Point	Detail
Poet	D.H. Lawrence
Place	A water trough in Sicily
Snake as	A guest, a king in exile
Conflict	Instinct versus taught fear
Message	Education can spoil natural reverence

Practice set — try it yourself

1. Where does the speaker meet the snake?
   Hint: Think about a water trough in Sicily.
2. How does the snake behave?
   Hint: Think about calm, innocent, like a guest.
3. What do the voices of education tell him?
   Hint: Think about fear and killing dangerous snakes.
4. Why does he regret throwing the log?
   Hint: Think about meanness and the king in exile.
5. When has taught fear spoiled your natural feeling?
   Hint: Think about an animal you feared because others said so.

Core Questions with Answers

1. What happens in the poem?
   A snake comes to drink at the speaker's water trough; he watches it, then throws a log at it and regrets it.
2. How does the snake seem?
   Calm and innocent, like a guest come to drink.
3. What do the voices of education say?
   That the snake is dangerous and must be killed.
4. Why does the speaker regret his act?
   Because he feels he has done something mean and vulgar — insulted a king in exile.
5. What is the main message?
   Human education can spoil natural feeling; instinct was reverence, taught fear made him cruel, and regret followed.

Extension Questions with Answers

1. Why does the speaker first feel wonder, not fear?
   Because the snake comes calmly, to drink, like a guest with a right to water. Wonder is the natural response to a beautiful creature that means no harm.
2. What are the voices of education?
   The taught rules that say snakes are evil and must be killed. They are not the speaker's own feeling, but lessons learned from books, parents and society.
3. Why does the speaker regret throwing the log at once?
   Because the act betrays his own better feeling. He sees in the same instant that he has been vulgar to a dignified guest, and regret follows the act without delay.
4. What does the king in exile image mean?
   That the snake, though driven from honour by human fear, keeps a royal dignity. Exile has not made it mean; only the man's act is mean.
5. Apply the poem to any prejudice you have learned.
   We often learn to fear people or creatures we have never met, through stories and warnings. The poem asks us to check taught fear against our own eyes, before we act on it.

Board Exam Questions (board-pattern practice)

These are Educational Galaxy's own board-pattern practice questions, written in the style of board questions. They are not claimed to be real past-year questions.

1. Explain the conflict in this poem. Answer: Instinct tells the speaker to honour the snake as a guest; the voices of education tell him to fear and kill it. Fear wins for a moment, then regret comes.
2. What does 'king in exile' mean? Answer: The snake, though driven from its wild kingdom to a human trough, keeps royal dignity — calm, unhurried, honourable — unlike the speaker's mean act.
3. Why is the act called vulgar? Answer: Because throwing a log at a peaceful guest is coarse and undignified; the speaker feels smaller than the snake he attacked.
4. How does Lawrence criticise education? Answer: Education here means taught fear — rules that override natural reverence. The poem suggests such teaching can make people crueller, not wiser.
5. What lesson does this poem give? Answer: To trust natural reverence for living things, and to question fears that others have taught us.

How to use this page: First read the summary, say the key terms in your own words, then try the practice set without looking. Finally check yourself with the questions and answers. Get your answers checked by your teacher or parents.