Hunting Snake
The poem ‘hunting snake’ written by Judith Wright highlights the idea that nature and man are equal. Through the use of language and imagery the poet portrays the snake as a powerful and majestic creature. This emphasizes the persona’s response to the snakes. She implies that we humans have narrow stereotypical views of the snake. This poem portrays how humans don’t always learn how to respect other creatures and only think of ourselves.
Throughout the poem the personas view of the snake is mingled with admiration and amazement and fear. This was shown by the words “sun glazed”, “curved” and “diamond scale”. These words portray the beauty of the snake and how the persona was fascinated by the snake’s appearance. On the fourth line of the second stanza the words “lost breath” shows how the persona was hypnotise by the snake’s beauty. Furthermore Judith Wright also uses oxymoron such as “cold, dark, and splendid” to show the majestic and fearful nature of the snake. The snake also shows a sense of determination as he pursues his prey displaying the beauty and power of the predators in nature. In stanza two he had his “head down” as he was perusing his prey. This highlights his sense of determination; this is further reinforced by the word “quested” describing the path it was taking to get to his prey. It was a mission for him although we as human saw it as a small and insignificant act. This makes us admire the snake in the way is dealing his problem, in order to survive. They are creatures that should be admire like any other animal and not treated differently.
The poet also describes the snake as a dangerous creature that always focuses on surviving. The poem started off with a tranquil scene of an autumnal day. Through the adjective “sun-warmed” and “gentlest sky” an image of calmness is