Discuss The Poem "The Snare" By James Stephens.

This beautiful short lyric has been composed by the famous Irish poet James Stephens. He was actively associated with the Irish Nationalist Movement. This poem deals with the pain and suffering found in this world. The poet expresses his grief over man's inability to reach out to the needy and the unfortunate to rescue them from their affliction.

The poet hears a painful cry of a poor rabbit caught up in a snare. He hears the cry again and tries to find out the poor victim but fails to locate the place. The painful cry haunts him and it creates a horror in the whole atmosphere. Even the air seems to be full of fear and pain. The cries become loud and painful and everything is over powered by their sorrowful effect.

As the poet hears the painful cries of his poor animal again, he struggles hard to find out the place where it is in trouble. He imagines the small face of the rabbit wrinkled up in severe pain. The rabbit calls again for help but the poet is unable to discover the animal. The poet feels that the paw of the rabbit is caught up in a trap and it is calling out for help.

The poet hears the call again and again and searches him everywhere in order to help him.The incident narrated in the poem arouses a nameless sympathy for the poor and for those who are weak and unhappy. The poet raises a question as to why is there so much undeserved pain in this world? Why should the weak and the poor always suffer at the hands of merciless, blind forces?

James Stephens has used his poem "THE SNARE" to tell the whole world how we should treat animals and how they suffer if we ill- treat them. He has used a lot of similes and metaphors such as "Crying on the frightened air" to make his poem beautiful and attractive. He also has comprised imagination very much such as ''Wrinkling up his little face'' and ''Where his paw is in the snare'' to reveal the truth animals suffer by being hunted. He has informed his readers about the fear & pain that animals experience before their death in snares. He also has tried to establish pity & sympathy towards animals in reader's heart by that. It is also clearly understood that he encourages animal lovers and he himself is an animal lover because he tries to exhibit the pain that animal lovers experience when animals suffer and when animal lovers cannot rescue animals from suffering.

how is the writter of poem the snare?

Explain 'Crying on the frightened air'.