The poem, “The Black Snake” by Mary Oliver is about a person that witnessed a truck running over a snake in the road and killing it. After she moves the snake to the bushes she beings to think about death and how sudden it can be. I enjoyed reading this poem because she explained the feelings of death and how unexpected it can be. This free verse poem’s use of metaphors and similes were an amusing and interesting way to describe death. Lastly, I enjoyed how the theme of the poem was portrayed by the snake and the event that ended its life. The author was able to depict that life is unpredictable and so is death through the use of literary terms.
The first and most common literary term Mary Oliver used was symbolism. In the poem, the snake
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symbolizes life and death or regeneration and immortality. “For thousands of years in many cultures, the snake has symbolized rebirth, regeneration, and immortality due to its ability to shed its skin and be “reborn” anew” (Neri). After the snake dies and the woman starts to think about death and what it is the starts to talk about the lighter side of death. Oliver writes, “happily all spring through the green leaves before he came to the road”. She mentions spring and the leaves, which both symbolize life and regeneration. But, like spring and the greenness of leaves life comes to and end at times, just like the snake. Other life continues to grow while other things I the world come to an end. The next and second most apparent literary term is, form.
“The Black Snake” was written as a free verse poem. It does not rhyme and the only structure that the poem has to it is that there are six stanzas that all consist of four lines. I believe that Mary Oliver wrote this poem as a free verse to aid to the meaning that not many things in life can actually be planned. For example, a person can plan a night out with friends and go bowling. They have a plan in mind, but, on the way to the bowling alley someone hits their car and someone gets seriously hurt. They were able to plan what they were doing for the night, but, they couldn’t plan for the car accident. The author not only show that meaning through her form but also in the words. She wrote about a truck driving down the road and a snake “flashed into the road” and the truck couldn’t move in time. The snake didn’t want to die and the person driving the truck probably didn’t plan on hitting a snake that …show more content…
day. Another literary term found in the poem was, tone. The poem started off in a normal calm tone then immediately gets sad and dark, “when the black snake flashed onto the morning road, and the truck could not swerve—death, that is how it happens” (Oliver). From that point on the tone seems to be remorseful and angry. Oliver writes, “He is a cool and gleaming as a braided whip, he is as beautiful and quiet as a dead brother”. Mary Oliver was comparing this black snake to a deceased human being. She was implying that all death is the same and everyone should feel remorse for the deceased; animal, reptile, insect, or human. It’s all the same Also, that every person will start to believe that there was something that they could have done to prevent the death of that living being. The tone of the poem starts to sound mad or angry when she begins to think about death and itself. Oliver wrote, “thinking about death: its suddenness, its terrible weight, its certain coming”. She wrote this part as is she was getting angry at the mere concept of death and why it happens without a warning. I also believe that she wrote the poem in the same way that a person who had just a death in their life would go through the grieving process. It started with shock and suddenness and then led to anger, questioning, and remorse; the feeling of being the one to blame. Then slowly the person starts to accept the death and come to terms with it. The beginning two stanzas both were able to paint a picture in my head of what the event looked lie.
Therefore, the next literary term found in this poem was imagery. When Mary was describing the accident I was able to picture a road with bushes and grass on either side and a truck in front. Then I could picture the snake jumping into the road really fast when she said, “when the black snake flashed onto the morning road” and the truck maybe swerving a little bit but not being able to spare the life of the snake. After that I pictured snake lying there in a circle and the woman pulling her car over, picking up the snake when Mary said, “now he lies looped and useless as an old bicycle tire” and moving it onto the grass. She used brief sentences and words to describe the event, but, I was able to see it in my head
clearly. The last literary term found in the poem was the simile. A simile is defined as a comparison of two things using the words like or as. Mary used these the most when describing the snake after its death. “Now he lies looped and useless as an old bicycle tire” (Oliver). In this sentence she compared the position of the dead snake to an old deflated bike tire using the word as to connect them. In the next stanza Mary wrote, “he is as cool and gleaming as a braided whip, he is as beautiful and quiet as a dead brother”. Again she compared the characteristics of the snake to a whip and the calmness and quietness to a diseased human being; once again implying that death is the same for every living being. Mary Oliver used similes to strengthen the impact of the death on the reader by comparing it to actual objects and people instead of just describing it. She wanted the reader to be able to feel emotion and the similes to be relatable and stronger.
Mary Oliver was a famous poet and nature-lover, she used nature as center of her poetries. She was observant and thoughtful, which endowed her poetry a unique charm and depth. In her poem “The Black Snake” also manifests everything in the natural world is equal. This poem narrated that the speaker found a black snake was killed by a truck and thus to start thinking death and life. Meanwhile, Mary’s poetic language also has strong power. This poetry is a simplicity and short but she used many elements of poetry to make this poetry more profound and meaningful, and the symbolism and figures of speech are the two main element in “The Black Snake”. Figures of speech brings value
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Words possess many different meanings. The context of the sentence and how the words are used help to create an experience in the reader. In Mary Oliver's, The Honey Tree, she structures her poem in a way that punctuates on the action in the text. Oliver uses the multiple meanings of words to help create a more vivid picture.
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