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Snake" by D.H. Lawrence – A modernist poem describing an encounter with an earth-golden and earth-brown snake that comes to drink at a water-trough in Sicily. The narrator struggles between societal conditioning to kill the snake and a deep, instinctive sense of awe and honor. Read the full text on The Poetry Foundation.
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"The Snake" (A narrow fellow in the grass) by Emily Dickinson – A classic short poem capturing the sudden, startling movement of a snake slithering through the grass, comparing its appearance to a "whip-lash / Unbraiding in the sun" and leaving a feeling of "zero at the bone". Read it via Your Daily Poem.
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"To the Snake" by Denise Levertov – A short, striking poem that addresses the snake directly as a symbol of quiet, concentrated energy and earth-bound wisdom.
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Auguries of Innocence" (excerpt) by William Blake
– Features iconic aphorisms and imagery concerning nature, life, and creatures of the earth.