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At a first glance, the poet has draped a green snake around her neck and stroked it, listening
to its hissing scales as it moved slowly around her ears. She proclaimed it to be harmless
whereas her companions believed it to be dangerous. It nevertheless gave her great pleasure
to have bonded so with the snake.
On the other hand, this poem has been interpreted as representing sexuality (the snake is a sex symbol)
or greed, money and gambling (the Green Snake is synonymous with the American "greenback" dollar).
Or perhaps the snake represents temptation, just as the First Woman in Eden was tempted by the
serpent.
ABOUT THE POET
Denise Levertov is regarded as an internationally respected American poet.
She was born in Ilford (Essex) in 1923. Her father, a teacher at Leipzig University, had been a Russian
Jew who had been held under house arrest as an "alien enemy" during World War I. After the war he and
his family moved to England where he converted to Christianity and then became an Anglican priest.
Levertov was educated at home and involved herself in writing from an early age. These writings reveal
the pressures of one who felt herself to be "the other", being part of but nevertheless excluded from most
identities: both Jew and Christian, German and English, etc.
At the age of five, she was already saying that she would be a writer when she grew up. At 12 she sent
some of her poems to the poet T.S. Eliot who gave her some "excellent advice". She was 17 when she
published her first poem. Her first book - The Double Image - was published when she was 23.
She married American writer, Mitchell Goodman, and this caused her to relocate to the United States in
1948, where she and her husband lived in New York. She would have a son through this marriage.
Although she later divorced, she nevertheless became a naturalized citizen and her poetry has been
described as being "thoroughly American".
Like many thinking Americans, Levertov became politically motivated during the Vietnam War,
joining in the protests against American involvement. Apart from her protest poetry, she also
wrote many poems with religious themes, ranging from religious imagery to implied metaphors
of religion.
She taught at several American universities and received a Doctorate in Literature from Bates
College.
She died in December 1997 and was buried in Seattle. She was then 74 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
What is SIBILANCE? Comment on the use of sibilance in this poem. (4)
[Need help?]
Sibilance is a form of alliteration but it is specifically associated with the "s" sound which might appear
anywhere in the word. This is usually connected with its hissing noise.
Have a look at the following words: "snake", "stroked", "pulsing", "hissed", "scales", "shoulders",
"whispering silver", "dryness sounded close at my ears", "swore", "companions", "harmless", "certainty",
"desiring", "leaves", "grass and shadows", "smiling".
That's a great deal of sibilance, don't you think? And the reason? Most people would conclude that it is
meant to portray the hissing sound that the snake makes. It is meant therefore to convey a sound image
of the snake - a form of ONOMATOPOEIA.
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THE OBVIOUS STORY
"Green Snake, when I hung you round my neck
and stroked your cold, pulsing throat
as you hissed to me"
- Why would the poet address the snake as "Green Snake" (she does this twice)? (4)
[Need help?]
This could, of course, be merely to convey the colour of the snake, as opposed to a black snake or a
diamond-back snake. It could also be seen as a term of endearment, indicating a liking for the snake -
as opposed to speaking merely the word "Snake".
One author remarks that the term "Green Snake" conveys a particular form of innocence. It's as if a child
were speaking to the snake. We have therefore an innocense of the snake's possible harm as opposed
to the way in which most people would view the snake as a dangerous creature.
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- Contrast the words "cold", "pulsing throat" and "hissed". (4)
[Need help?]
"Cold" is usually a sign of death and lifelessness. It also signifies a lack of emotion and feeling. "Pulsing",
on the other hand, is a sign of life, warmth and affection. "Hissed" is usually a warning sign.
Together, the words form a strange contradiction of emotions: from unemotional to alive to dangerous.
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"Green Snake - I swore to my companions that certainly
you were harmless! But truly
I had no certainty, and no hope, only desiring
to hold you, for that joy, which left
a long wake of pleasure"
- Explain the poet's hopes and emotions here. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet, like DH Lawrence, is confronted with the "voice of education" which says that the snake is
harmful. Her "voice of consciousness", on the other hand, persuades her that she would like to become
bonded for just a short time with one of the "lords of life", and that such a bonding would give her much
pleasure.
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- Why does the poet speak of "a long wake of pleasure"? (4)
[Need help?]
When a ship sails steadily on its course through the sea, it leaves a long wake behind it from where the
propellers churned the water. This wake takes ages to disappear and can usually be seen stretching even
as far as the horizon.
Is this what the poet has in mind: that holding the snake will leave a trail of pleasure in her life, stretching
on and on into infinity?
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THE SOUND OF MONEY
"Green Snake, when I hung you round my neck
and stroked your cold, pulsing throat
as you hissed to me, glinting
arrowy gold scales, and I felt
the weight of you on my shoulders,
and the whispering silver of your dryness
sounded close at my ears"
- An argument has been put forward that this poem is more about money, greed and gambling than
about a snake. If so, what then would the term "Green Snake" portray? (2)
[Need help?]
The American dollar - a paper note - is known as a "Greenback". Could the poet be signifying that?
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- What then would the words "I hung you round my neck", "stroked your cold, pulsing throat" and "as
you hissed to me, glinting arrowy gold scales" signify? (4)
[Need help?]
The argument for this interpretation is based on the idea of how gambling weighs heavy on one, the
money is cold and pulsing, and the paper money hisses as the counting machine counts it out. The weight
around the neck would be the weight of jewellery and wealth. The "arrowy gold scales" would then also
signify the money scales, while the "whispering silver of your dryness" refers to the silver coins in the slot
machines.
Far fetched? Perhaps but there might nevertheless be some reference in the poet's mind to greed and
money.
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THE RELIGIOUS INTERPRETATION
Given that the poet was attracted to religious and biblical images in her poetry, it is quite possible that her
Green Snake alludes to the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
- To what then would "the whispering silver of your dryness sounded close at my ears"
alude? (4)
[Need help?]
Those who are attracted to this interpretation would explain that the poet is hinting at the serpent's
whispering temptations into her ear in the same way that the serpent whispered to the Woman in the
Garden of Eden.
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- Generally speaking, most people claim that the serpent in Eden was dangerous. Does the poet agree
with this interpretation? If so, how do you explain her words, "I swore to my companions that certainly you
were harmless!" (4)
[Need help?]
It is possible that the poet does not see the snake as harmful at all, and that the serpent's invitation to eat
of the forbidden fruit was not at all a bad thing. After all, what the serpent was offering was wisdom, the
same thing that all schools and universities offer. As a university academic, would not the poet agree that
wisdom was indeed very desirable?
One is therefore once more confronted with DH Lawrence's two voices. On the one hand, there is the
"voice of education" which teaches that the snake is bad. On the other, there is the "voice of conscience"
which says that what the snake offers is good.
But, before you reject such an interpretation because of what you learned at Sunday school, remember
that the snake is often used in the Bible as a symbol for God himself. For example, Moses's staff was
decorated with a serpent as representing God, and as long as Moses held the serpent aloft, God was on
his side. And there are many more such references.
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How then should one interpret this poem? (10)
[Need help?]
The best interpretation is always the more expansive one. There is often truth on all sides. If I was going
to write an essay on interpreting this poem, I would definitely go for all four images: the most obvious one
where the poet is definitely holding a snake with all the snake sibilance; the money image and its
warnings against greed and gambling; the temptation image of the Garden of Eden; and, of course, the
sexual image where the snake would represent unbridled sexual temptation.
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