It shows us the lizard was unaware of the puff adder and how well it was
camouflaged.
A puff-adder,
khaki,
fatter than a stocking of pus
Stanza one describes big fat puff adder. The metaphor 'fatter than A stocking of pus’ is
vivid. The puff adder is khaki coloured. It has a short thin tail. It is both obese and quick at
the same time. A simile describes the speed of the puff adder as it strikes: quick as a lightfooted dancer'. The last line of the stanza the puff adder took (caught and ate).
except for its short thin tail,
obese and quick
as certain light footed dancers
5
took a dozing lizard.
The puff adder is described as both fat and obese and yet as quick as a light-footed
dancer. The other contrasting image is the fatness of the puff adder and its short and thin
tail.
It could be a euphemism because it means the snake caught and ate the lizard.
Scaly little monster
The words 'little’ and 'delicate' in lines one and two evoke a feeling of protection, almost as if we
think of a baby. The alliteration in 'stupidly sluggish in the sun', shows that the speaker also
thinks the lizard is foolish. Emotions differ between feeling sorry for the tiny lizard, to one of
irritation because it doesn't move to save itself.
with delicate hands and feet
stupidly sluggish in the sun.
Panting, true,
10
but lizards breathe mostly
as if their lives depended.
'Gone' conveys how suddenly everything happened. One moment the lizard was
dozing in the sun, and next it was the snake's prey.
Gone.
Enveloped by a slack
wormy yellow bowel.
O Jonah, to tumble to
those sickly deadly depths,
slick walled, implacably black
15
The stanza begins with O, Jonah', this tells us the lizard is compared to Jonah. Just like Jonah was
swallowed by a whale, the lizard is swallowed the snake. Unlike Jonah, however, lizard will not be
spat out and will stay in the 'sickly deadly depths' of the puff adder.