POWER POINT PRENTATION

Presented by

SURYA NARAYAN HANSDAH

PGT,(ENGLISH),

JNV,PURULIA,(W.B.)

The Snake Trying

- W.W.E. Ross

William Wrightson Eustace (W.W.E.) Ross, poet, Canadian geophysicist (born at Peterborough, Ontario, 14th Jun 1894; died at Toronto, 26th Aug 1966). W.W.E. Ross grew up in Pembroke, Ontario and later attended the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO,CANADA where he earned his degree in geophysics (1914).

INTRODUCTION

• The poem ‘The Snake Trying’ is composed by W.W.E. Ross. Most of us think of snakes as fearsome symbols of death. But the snake in this poem is itself a victim.

1st Stanza

The snake trying

to escape the pursuing stick, with sudden curvings of thin long body. How beautiful and graceful are his shapes!

He glides through the water away from the stroke.

Explanation:-

The snake tries to escape from the pursuing stick. It curves its thin long body suddenly. The snake looks very beautiful and graceful.

It tries to escape from the stroke, glides through the water.

2nd Stanza

O let him go over the water

into the reeds to hide

without hurt. Small and green he is harmless even to children.

Explanation:-

The snake should go over the water into the reeds to hide, without hurting the children. It looks small and green. This snake is completely harmless even to small children.

3^rd Stanza

Along the sand

he lay until observed

and chased away, and now he vanishes in the ripples among the green slim reeds.

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Explanation:-

The snake lies on the sand until it is observed and chased away. In the end, it disappears in the ripples in the green reeds.

NEW WORDS

Words

• Pursuing

• Curving

• Glides

• Stroke

• Reeds

• Observed

• Vanish

• Ripples

Meanings

• Following

• Twisting

• Moves like a flow

• Attack

• Long thin plants like bamboo

• Seen

• Disappear

• waves

POETIC DEVICES

• 1. Rhyme scheme is absent. The poem is written in free verse.�2. Transferred epithet: the adjective used with a noun refers to a noun other than the one with which it is used.�Pursuing stick - pursuing refers to the person who is holding the stick and not the stick itself.�3. Alliteration: the repetition of a consonant sound in 2 or more consecutive words.�He is harmless - ‘h’

Comprehension

1. The snake…………….. from the stroke.

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Questions:-

1. How does the snake escape the stick?
2. How does its body look?
3. In what way does the snake move in water?
4. Write opposite of beautiful.

II Stanza

2. O let him ……………….……………….. to children.

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Questions:-

4. Who is ‘him’ in the first line?
5. Where will the snake be without being hurt?
6. How will the snake be to the children?
7. Find similar word of ‘tiny’ in the stanza.

III Stanza

3. Along the sand ……………..…………. slim reeds.

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Questions:-

4. Where does the snake lie?
5. What does the snake do in the ripples? (vi)How do the reeds look?

(vii)Write the meaning of ‘vanish’.

Thinking about the poem

Answer the following questions in about 30-40 words:

2. What is the snake trying to escape from?
3. Is it a harmful snake? What is its colour?
4. The poet finds the snake beautiful. Find the words he uses to convey its beauty.
5. What does the poet wish for the snake?
6. Where was the snake before anyone saw it and chased it away? Where does the snake disappear?

SUMMARY

• Summary
• In this poem, a harmless green - coloured snake tries to save itself from being hit by a person who is chasing it with a stick to kill it. The poet says that the snake is harmless even to children. People fear snakes and when they see one, they try to kill it with a stick. The snake tries to save itself and hides behind the green - coloured bushes of marshy plants growing in the water. It hides in the ripples of the water body in order to save itself. The snake disappears behind the marshy plants.

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THANKS