To what effect has
the poet used these devices? How has it added to your understanding
of the subject of the poem? You may record your understanding of
snake characteristics under the following headings:
(a) Sound
(b) Movement
(c) Shape
To what effect has the poet used these devices? How has it added to your understanding of the subject of the poem? You may record your understanding of snake characteristics under the following headings:
(a) Sound
(b) Movement
(c) Shape
By
using alliteration, sibilance and onomatopoeia, D.H.Lawrence has
succeeded in creating a kind of visual and sensory effect on us. In
line ‘And trailed his yellow- brown slackness, soft-bellied
down,’ we feel the onomatopoeia effect in ‘trailed’,
‘slackness’, and ‘soft- bellied down.’ We
almost hear both the sound and the movement of the snake. Equally in
line ‘And flickered his two- forked tongue,’ /f/ sound
(sibilance) and onomatopoeic effect in ‘flickered’ lend a
visual and sensory movement to the snake.
In the line ‘Softly
drank through his straight/ gum, into this slack long body/
Silently’, the /s/ sound conveys the snake’s feature of
the snake through sibilance. In doing so, the poet has been
successful in bringing out the image of the snake through the sound,
movement and shape. Another example of onomatopoeic word ‘slowly’
and /s/ sound indicates the use of sibilance, conveys this effect:
‘And slowly turned his head,/ And slowly, very slowly, as if
thrice a dream’.
By using alliteration, sibilance and onomatopoeia, D.H.Lawrence has succeeded in creating a kind of visual and sensory effect on us. In line ‘And trailed his yellow- brown slackness, soft-bellied down,’ we feel the onomatopoeia effect in ‘trailed’, ‘slackness’, and ‘soft- bellied down.’ We almost hear both the sound and the movement of the snake. Equally in line ‘And flickered his two- forked tongue,’ /f/ sound (sibilance) and onomatopoeic effect in ‘flickered’ lend a visual and sensory movement to the snake.
In the line ‘Softly drank through his straight/ gum, into this slack long body/ Silently’, the /s/ sound conveys the snake’s feature of the snake through sibilance. In doing so, the poet has been successful in bringing out the image of the snake through the sound, movement and shape. Another example of onomatopoeic word ‘slowly’ and /s/ sound indicates the use of sibilance, conveys this effect: ‘And slowly turned his head,/ And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice a dream’.
