The theme of the poem The Snake Trying is that humans are cruel towards the nature. In the poem, the poet describes an incident in which a person is chasing a green snake (which is not poisonous) in order to kill it because of fear.

The poet, on contrary, praises the appearance of the snake and asks the person (who is chasing the snake) not to kill it and let is go because it is harmless. The poet seems to be somewhat irritated with the behaviour of humans towards the nature.

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The title of the poem holds significant and deep meaning. The word trying here means “saving itself”. The snake in the poem, which is harmless and not poisonous, still becomes the victim of human’s fear as well as wrath. It finally succeeds in saving itself.

So, the poem is about nature struggling to save itself from the humans. The poet believes that like us, other living organisms too, have right to live on the earth. However, we humans have snatched that away from them because of fear, wrath, greed, necessity.

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In the poem The Snake Trying,  the poet uses a lot of images for poetic effect which have been described below.

1. Pursuing stick: The first image used in the poem, is a determine stick, i.e. a stick, the holder of which is determined to kill the snake.
2. Ripples: Ripples refer to waves on the surface of water. Here the ripples are not just waves but saviour of the snake.
3. Sudden curving of thin long body: This image shows the beauty of the snake.

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