Lawrence is famous for being the author of a great many fiction books that are classics in English literature, including Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, The Plumed Serpent, and, of course, Lady Chatterley's Lover, which is probably the last book ever written by a true literary giant that a majority of America's young people read when it first became available in the United States. The book was first published in Florence in 1928, but did not hit the U.S. market until 1959, when the courts ruled that this "dirty book" could be sold openly to the American public. I remember it well. "Eh, but tha'rt nice, tha'rt nice!"

Besides being a great writer of fiction, Lawrence was also an excellent and prolific poet. "Snake," which appeared in a collection of poems published in 1923 entitled Birds, Beasts and Flowers, is one of his most popular poems, and not surprisingly, one of my favorites. Because it deals with an encounter with a serpent, many literary experts, as well as a great many students, have, over the years, read all sorts of "meanings" into this poem. Obviously, the snake represents evil, and the author's fascination with the reptile has a clear connection to Eve's seduction in the Garden. Or at least that's the starting point for most of these literary analyses.

I prefer to enjoy this poem as a simple story, with no hidden or allegorical meaning. It is not unusual for me to see a large black snake on my farm here in the Shenandoah Valley, and I have often felt as the author does here. Yes, I am expected to kill the animal. That's what most everyone does around these parts when they see a snake. And yet, I find these creatures to be quite beautiful, and I always go about my business without harming them. Once I came upon one sunning himself on a blacktop road and I stopped my truck and used a stick to force him into the ditch, much to amusement and chagrin of passing locals, who are inclined to go out of their way to run over snakes that are dumb enough to sun themselves on the road.