Short & Long Questions: Snake | Short & Long Answer Questions for Class 10 PDF Download

Short Answer Type

Q1: Why does the poet experience conflicting emotions on seeing the snake?
Ans: The poet experienced conflicting emotions because his head (education), and his heart (sensibilities) gave him different suggestions, opinions, on how to handle the snake His heart did not want to listen to his mind that told him to kill the snake, if he were a man.

Q2: What did voice of education say to the poet in the poem, ‘snake’?
Ans: Education had made him understand that snakes are poisonous and that it should be killed for survival. Snake poison could result in death. It had not taught him to understand, respect and protect another living being, that was in not way disturbing him.

Q3: How does the poet describe the day and the atmosphere when he saw the snake?
Ans: The poet says that it was a very hot day in July, probably as hot as the day when Mount Etna in Sicily had erupted, releasing excessive heat, fire and lava.

Q4: Why did D.H. Lawrence, the poet, despise himself? How did he feel and describe his action?
Ans: He despised himself for throwing a log at the snake. He felt extremely disgusted when he saw the snake escaping in a hurry. He regretted his paltry, vulgar and mean behaviour. He hated himself and the education that had told him that snakes are harmful and must be killed. He felt his action was responsible for depriving him of the opportunity of honouring a king.

Q5: Why did the poet wait for the snake to quench its thirst first?
Ans: The poet waits for the snake to quench its thirst because he considered it to be an honoured guest. Besides, as the snake had come before him, it was first in the order.

Q6: How is the poet guilty of violating the rule of hospitality?
Ans: The poet felt honoured when he noticed a majestic snake crawling towards his water trough, to quench its thirst. Later, he picked up a log and threw it at the harmless snake, while it was making a decent exit. The poet regretted his impulsive act and termed it as being, ’vulgar’ ’mean’ ‘petty’, and rebukes the voices of human education. The poet believed that he ought to make amends for his unreasonable and undignified act. He experienced an acute sense of guilt for having violated the basic rules of hospitality.

Q7: How does the poet describe the day and the atmosphere when he saw the snake?
Ans: It was a very hot day, similar to the day in july when Mount Etna had erupted emitting heat and fire. Compelled by the heat, the snake had come out from the earth.

Q8: What does the poet want to convey by saying that the snake emerges from the ‘burning bowels of the earth’?
Ans: It was due to heat that the snake was forced to leave its hideout and come out in the open for respite from the heat.

Q9: Do you think the snake was conscious of the poet’s presence? How do you know?
Ans: Not in the beginning. He drank, completely oblivious of the poet’s presence there. Later on, when he looked at him, it showed no fear. Probably, it did not know that a man stood there in fascination with a very confused state of mind, that was giving him contrary instructions.

Q10: How do we know that the snake’s thirst was satiated?
Ans: After drinking enough water, the .snake took out its biforked tongue, moved it and smacked its lips as the cattle do. This was an indication that its thirst was quenched.

Long Answer Type
Q11: What ideas and thoughts come to poet’s mind when he finds a poisonous snake drinking water at his water-trough?
Ans: When the poet went to water-trough to take water in his pitcher, he saw a snake drinking water like cattle, and felt honoured. It looked majestic to the poet. He admired it but realised that it was poisonous and decided to attack it. He picked up a log and threw it at the snake. But the snake escaped. The poet felt a sense of cowardice, perversity and humility. He regretted for his action — felt he would have to expiate for his moral lapse.

Q12. Whenever we act against the voice of our conscience, the result is suffering. Explain with reference to the poet’s action against the snake and its consequences.
Ans: The graceful and dignified presence of the snake that had come to quench its thirst had fascinated the poet and filled him with awe. The poet who had also gone to fetch some water waits patiently, with due respect for the ’guest’. However, the voice of education tells him that yellow snakes are venomous and urges him to throw a log at the receding snake. When the poet sees the harmless snake slithering in panic for safety into the bowels of the earth, he is filled with a sense of guilt and remorse. He despises himself for being petty and wishes that the snake would reappear to accept his hospitality and seek redemption for his evil act.

Q13. “Man is the most selfish animal on this earth, who has not spared any other species to satisfy his greed.” Elaborate.
Or
Why can’t man live and let others (wildlife in general) live in peace?
Ans: Everything that grows, lives, breathes and procreates, fall under the category of living beings. God created all living beings. The only difference between man and other living things are that man has been endowed with the power of reasoning, while the other living beings are guided by their instinct.
Now, what did man do with his power of reasoning? He started using it unreasonably. Animals kill only when they are hungry. But man kills to eat, for fun, for power, as a sport, in the name of religion. He just needs to hit upon a reason to be inhuman and unreasonable. Man has destroyed the earth given to us by God.
He has destroyed the ecological balance, by killing animals and birds and chopping down trees. All this to satiate his greed for wealth and power. For man the adage, “Live and let live” is not for him to practise. Allowing another being to stand up against him will be a definite crash of his ego, which he will not allow even if it means that he has to kill.

Q14. Snakes generate both horror and fascination. Do you agree? Why/Why not?
Ans: I agree to the fact that snakes generate both horror and fascination. Snakes are legless reptiles that glide their way through water and ground. They are carnivorous and thus, can be very dangerous. They can prey on objects larger than their heads which makes snakes a highly risky reptile to encounter. Of course, it is because of these traits that some people find it fascinating to keep snakes as their pet.
But the fear that has been instilled in our minds with regard to this creature is so severe that we tend to panic if we see even a harmless non-poisonous variety basking in the sun. Snakes are lovely to look at because of the varied colours and designs on their bodies. Patterns on different species of snakes symbolise their type and characteristics.