Poetry Analysis: Thom Gunn's Considering the Snail

Thom Gunn's "Considering the Snail" is a poem in syllabic metre. It is from his third collection My Sad Captains. Due to Ted Hughes' incorrigible obsession with birds, animals and beasts, critics have pointed out that this particular poem may be a parody of the same. The poem is on the continuity pursued by the snail. Gunn himself stated that "my life insists on continuities - between America and England, between free verse and metre, between vision and everyday consciousness."

The snail 'pushes 'forth as though defying the forces of Nature. One, the gravitational pull below that challenges it. Secondly, the grass that acts as a hindrance in front of it. Further, the grass is full with water. And the 'rain that has darkened the earth's dark.' The line:" He/moves in a wood of desire" evokes sexual connotations. In general, the 'wood of desire' may signify man's deepest dreams that he endeavors to fulfill. In the poem, on the literal level, it denotes the snail's quest for food. The snail moves with obstinate willpower and deliberation as though it has to achieve its goal at any cost. Its slowness, steadfastness and temperament signify the tremendous determination it encompasses. As it moves in the darkness, he leaves behind a trail of brightness. The 'green night' refers to the darkness of the grass that it moves in. The term 'wood' in Frost's poems often function as a metaphor of 'indecision' Here, the snail is undeterred in its precision and decision. 'Wood' quite often functions as a primordial symbol for deep secrets. Just as the snail defies both human and animal instinct through its patience and perseverance; it reminds one of the age-old dictum: The slow and steady wins the race.
The 'pale antlers' or the sensory antennae of the snail barely stir as the snail is firm and rooted in its purpose. The words:" what power is at work, drenched there /with purpose, knowing nothing" reiterate this idea. This line also points out the difference between humans and snails. Humans refrain from the path of hard work in spite of their knowledge that it is the shortest key to success. Whereas, the snail proceeds though it is "knowing nothing."The poet quips a rhetorical question:"What is a snail's fury?" as though the snail's fury does not exist owing to the ultimate endurance that it projects. The movement of the poem also reflects the heavy movement of the snail. Just as the movement of verse in E.E.Cumming's "The Grasshopper" portrays the insect's' darting flight. The deliberate control of the seven syllables exemplify the premeditated hold of the snail in its progression.

At the end, the poet parts the blades of the grass and beholds the trail left behind by the snail. What the poet read in the purposeful trail was its inherent passion to succeed, divorced from external factors and extraneous implications. To the snail all that mattered was -resolution, and not the result; action and not intention and finally, the journey in itself and not the destination.