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THE LION AND THE SNAKE
THE LION AND THE SNAKE
Lion, don't be shy if you're
bitten by a shameless snake.
All your deeds are bold and clear.
You don't heed how snakes cause ache.
You behave during daylight,
while the creatures are all there.
With esteem they praise your might
and with scared eyes they all stare.
As the snakes use their own bile,
they inject it when it's night
while the lion is asleep
unable to see and fight.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________________________________
Lion, don't be shy if you're
bitten by a shameless snake.
All your deeds are bold and clear.
You don't heed how snakes cause ache.
You behave during daylight,
while the creatures are all there.
With esteem they praise your might
and with scared eyes they all stare.
As the snakes use their own bile,
they inject it when it's night
while the lion is asleep
unable to see and fight.
BY JOSEPH ZENIEH
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
____________________________________
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
There are several problems here.
1. Why would a lion be shy if he were bitten by a shameless snake? Why do you feel it is necessary to admonish him to avoid being so? And would your admonition be relevant or necessary if the snake that bites him were not a shameless one?
2. Why is a snake shameless if it wants to bite a lion? Isn't that it's nature?
3. Is it bile that snakes inject into something when they bite it? Did you mean venom -- which is not the same as bile?
4. It's not true, is it, that snakes bite only at night?
5. Don't lions sleep during the day and prowl at night?
6. Isn't "unable to .. fright" a solecism? "fright" is a noun, not a verb. What a lion is unable to do when asleep is to **be frightened**.
So once again, what dictates how you write is your questionable idea that for a writing to be a poem, it must include rhyme even when one must force one's lines into it at the expense of sense.
1. Why would a lion be shy if he were bitten by a shameless snake? Why do you feel it is necessary to admonish him to avoid being so? And would your admonition be relevant or necessary if the snake that bites him were not a shameless one?
2. Why is a snake shameless if it wants to bite a lion? Isn't that it's nature?
3. Is it bile that snakes inject into something when they bite it? Did you mean venom -- which is not the same as bile?
4. It's not true, is it, that snakes bite only at night?
5. Don't lions sleep during the day and prowl at night?
6. Isn't "unable to .. fright" a solecism? "fright" is a noun, not a verb. What a lion is unable to do when asleep is to **be frightened**.
So once again, what dictates how you write is your questionable idea that for a writing to be a poem, it must include rhyme even when one must force one's lines into it at the expense of sense.
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
18th Dec 2019 11:11pm
You should change your eyeglasses, dear Baldwin. l wrote fight, not fright. Look at it again.
Re: Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
18th Dec 2019 11:30pm
Yes, I misread what you wrote in that line. But I made other comments as well on other things you wrote which you have yet to demonstrate (let alone assert) were off the mark.
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
18th Dec 2019 11:42pm
Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
18th Dec 2019 11:45pm
Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
19th Dec 2019 00:05am
It's a new noun clause. ... to demonstrate [that] they were off the mark. What's the matter Baldwin?
Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
19th Dec 2019 00:21am
"But I made other comments ... on other things you wrote **which you have yet to demonstrate**... were off the mark" is a sentence that is perfectly sound grammatically.
Now perhaps you will stop attempting to find ways to avoid speaking directly to the problems that I have noted as besetting your submission and actually show me how and why I am wrong in what I noted if you think I am.
Now perhaps you will stop attempting to find ways to avoid speaking directly to the problems that I have noted as besetting your submission and actually show me how and why I am wrong in what I noted if you think I am.
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
19th Dec 2019 11:09am
Dear Baldwin,
1- Because it is a king, and the snake is much inferior, so the lion will be morally affected.
2- Because the snake's behaviour is done stealthily.
3-Yes, because bile is a reference to bad temper, and stinging refers to that.
4- At night is a reference to darkness, and meanness.
5- Lions can't be attacked when awake. This is the reference.
6-Your mistake is related to two clauses, one relative, and the other noun clause. If you don't understand, ask for more details.
1- Because it is a king, and the snake is much inferior, so the lion will be morally affected.
2- Because the snake's behaviour is done stealthily.
3-Yes, because bile is a reference to bad temper, and stinging refers to that.
4- At night is a reference to darkness, and meanness.
5- Lions can't be attacked when awake. This is the reference.
6-Your mistake is related to two clauses, one relative, and the other noun clause. If you don't understand, ask for more details.
Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
Morally affected???
Lions can be and are attacked when they are awake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V6gdu5ih8
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-truth-about-lions-11558237/
So you don't know what you are talking about.
The idea that " As the snakes use their own bile,
they inject it when it's night" means "snakes inject their own (as opposed to something else's?) bile **when it's meanness**" is unintelligible.
And bile is not something that is (or can be) injected.
Lions can be and are attacked when they are awake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5V6gdu5ih8
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-truth-about-lions-11558237/
So you don't know what you are talking about.
The idea that " As the snakes use their own bile,
they inject it when it's night" means "snakes inject their own (as opposed to something else's?) bile **when it's meanness**" is unintelligible.
And bile is not something that is (or can be) injected.
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
Please tell me why you think, if you do, that the following is not something that is better written and more enjoyable than your seven syllable lined "lion and snake" is.
Lion, Lion, in the night
don't allow the dire snake’s bite!
He’s a cunning demon sprite
focused on his venomed might
to bring you down onto your knees
if you sleep and take your ease
heeding not the plaintive pleas
of your pride to foil fanged seizure
of your kingly jungle leisure.
Is his venom in your veins
something dark that brings a stain
on your beastly moral sense
should you have one now or hence?
What’s atonement’s recompense?
Lion, Lion, in the night
don't allow the dire snake’s bite!
He’s a cunning demon sprite
focused on his venomed might
to bring you down onto your knees
if you sleep and take your ease
heeding not the plaintive pleas
of your pride to foil fanged seizure
of your kingly jungle leisure.
Is his venom in your veins
something dark that brings a stain
on your beastly moral sense
should you have one now or hence?
What’s atonement’s recompense?
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
Dear Baldwin,
1- Please, don't say seven syllables. If someone who knows about rhythms reads it, he will laugh at your ignorance. I don't intend to say any more about it.
2- l am sorry to say what you write is not poetry to me. There are few lines with rhythm, but most of it is without or with a broken rhythm. I consider it prose poetry, which for me is not poetry at all. Sorry if l frustrate you. You have to learn about the rhythms.
1- Please, don't say seven syllables. If someone who knows about rhythms reads it, he will laugh at your ignorance. I don't intend to say any more about it.
2- l am sorry to say what you write is not poetry to me. There are few lines with rhythm, but most of it is without or with a broken rhythm. I consider it prose poetry, which for me is not poetry at all. Sorry if l frustrate you. You have to learn about the rhythms.
Re: Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
Please show me which of my lines have no rhythm and where my rhythm is broken.
And please show me where you lines are not made up of seven syllables.
Each of these lines are made up of seven syllables:
As the snakes use their own bile,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
they in/ject it when it's night
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
And they scan like this:
AS the SNAKES use THEIR OWN BILE (trochee trochee molossus)
THEY inJECT it WHEN IT'S NIGHT (trochee trochee molossus
And please show me where you lines are not made up of seven syllables.
Each of these lines are made up of seven syllables:
As the snakes use their own bile,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
they in/ject it when it's night
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
And they scan like this:
AS the SNAKES use THEIR OWN BILE (trochee trochee molossus)
THEY inJECT it WHEN IT'S NIGHT (trochee trochee molossus
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
My dear Baldwin,
Trochee can be with the last unstressed syllable, or without it. I prefer it without because with it, it loses its beauty.
Trochee can be with the last unstressed syllable, or without it. I prefer it without because with it, it loses its beauty.
Re: Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
20th Dec 2019 8:45pm
If catalectic trochee is so beautiful, why not write verse that is all stressed syllables?
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
20th Dec 2019 6:04pm
So you DO write seven syllable lines. And how is a phrase that scans as three stressed syllables a trochee?.
And are you or are you not going to demonstrate the truth of your claim that there are unrhythmed and broken rhythmed lines in my piece?
And are you or are you not going to demonstrate the truth of your claim that there are unrhythmed and broken rhythmed lines in my piece?
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
21st Dec 2019 5:29pm
Yesterday I wrote:
"And are you or are you not going to demonstrate the truth of your claim that there are unrhythmed and broken rhythmed lines in my piece?"
As of today, I see that you have done nothing to back up your claim about the alleged faults in my piece. I suspect that the reason for this is that you are unable to do so. But I'd be happy to be shown that I am wrong in my suspicion.
So put your money where you mouth is and point out the places in my piece where I have not written in rhythm and where the rhythm that I have written in is broken.
"And are you or are you not going to demonstrate the truth of your claim that there are unrhythmed and broken rhythmed lines in my piece?"
As of today, I see that you have done nothing to back up your claim about the alleged faults in my piece. I suspect that the reason for this is that you are unable to do so. But I'd be happy to be shown that I am wrong in my suspicion.
So put your money where you mouth is and point out the places in my piece where I have not written in rhythm and where the rhythm that I have written in is broken.
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Re. THE LION AND THE SNAKE
23rd Dec 2019 3:34pm
Two days ago I asked
"And are you or are you not going to demonstrate the truth of your claim that there are unrhythmed and broken rhythmed lines in my piece?"
And once again I see that you have done nothing to back up your claim about the alleged faults in my piece.
So unless you want to provide more evidence that you don't know what you are talking about when you make claims about the meter of a piece, I say yet again "put your money where you mouth is and point out the places in my piece where I have not written in rhythm and where the rhythm that I have written in is broken"
"And are you or are you not going to demonstrate the truth of your claim that there are unrhythmed and broken rhythmed lines in my piece?"
And once again I see that you have done nothing to back up your claim about the alleged faults in my piece.
So unless you want to provide more evidence that you don't know what you are talking about when you make claims about the meter of a piece, I say yet again "put your money where you mouth is and point out the places in my piece where I have not written in rhythm and where the rhythm that I have written in is broken"
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