Hunting Snake

Sun-warmed in this late season’s grace

under the autumn’s gentlest sky
we walked, and froze half-through a pace.
The great black snake went reeling by.

Head-down, tongue flickering on the trail

he quested through the parting grass;
sun glazed his curves of diamond scale,
and we lost breath to watch him pass.

What track he followed, what small food

fled living from his fierce intent,
we scarcely thought; still as we stood
our eyes went with him as he went.

Cold, dark and splendid he was gone

into the grass that hid his prey.
We took a deeper breath of day,
looked at each other, and went on.

-Judith Wright

Questions:
1. What was the season when the snake was spotted? Give evidence from
the poem.
2. Pick out three phrases that tell you that the snake was inspiring fear in the
poet and her friend.
3. How is nature portrayed in ‘Hunting Snake’ and what is the purpose?
ANSWER KEY
1. It was autumn when the snake was spotted. The evidence that suggest it
was autumn are, ‘Sun-warmed in this late season’s grace’ and ‘the
autumn’s gentlest sky’.

2. The three phrases that suggest that the snake inspired fear are, ‘tongue
flickering’, ‘we lost breath to watch him pass’, ‘his fierce intent’, ‘still as
we stood’, ‘ our eyes went with him as he went’ and ‘cold, dark and
splendid’.

3. The poem starts with a beautiful natural setting. For people living in non-
seasonal places, autumn is the season where everything is just right: not
too hot, not too cold which is represented by ‘sun-warmed in this late
season’s grace’. So, it’s just perfect outside for a walk through the
countryside as it is ‘sun-warmed’ and they under the ‘gentlest sky’,
sounding nice and cosy. However, their contentment is shattered as they
freeze at the sight of a snake, which is a natural reaction as most people
are afraid of them, particularly if they are described as ‘great black’,
words that conjure an image of imposing size and associate it with
danger.

The purpose of such deep exploring of nature suggest that both beauty
and fierceness exist as a part of nature. Moreover, it also shows that
sometimes there is beauty in fierceness.