The Snake

I believe that both the poem, "The Snake", and the image of the actual snake both fit into the category of American Literature known Transcendentalism, while the poem seems to show the snake in a romantic way and the image in a realistic manner. In the poem, the author describes the snake in a fairly detailed manner, almost showing its thoughts and emotions through its position and its actions. The attention to detail the writer shows is a trait of romantic writing and the attempt I feel the writer is trying to make to reveal the snakes emotions is also a common trait of romanticism.

The traits of Transcendentalism are evident however not only in the fact that the poem is written about an animal, a part of nature, and its natural actions of life, but also in the way that the writer mentions wanting to be like the snake. The last three lines of the poem,

"I longed to be that thing.

The pure, sensuous form.

And I may be, some time."

reveal the writers reason for describing and attempting to understand the snake in such a detailed way, and that is due to his desire to become calm and refined like the snake. Transcendental writers and thinkers were invested in nature and wished to understand it, connect with it, and become one with it. The image of the snake has less evidence of transcendentalism, as it is only an image of nature and the snake in its natural stance, but that is still relevant and can connect the two works. 

The image of the snake however seems to present realistic ideas to me due not only to the background and natural habitat of the image, but the stance and solidness of the snake. The image seems to be saying that this is the snake, this is what is does, there is no backstory. Everything seems simple and yet, realistic. The writer of the poem looks at the snake from a different perspective and tries to see so much more, but the image seems to just look at it on the surface and take that to be the full extent of what is there.