64 The Poets and Nature. 



" If weary amidst the flowers, 

 Thou seek'st to close thine eyes, 

 Behold ! with flattering pinions at thy feet, 

 A serpent midst the flowers darts and hisses." 



And can anything be more odious in comparison with the 

 noble purity of Milton's treatment of the theme, than Cowper 

 making Eve longingly guess at the pleasures of wedded life 

 from observing the connubial complexities of snakes ? 



" Look there and see amidst the thousand folds 

 Those close entwisted snakes, 

 That in a single being seem combined 

 Coy Adam, even these 

 Weave the close web of love." 



This poet further makes Eve call the serpent to its face 

 " snaky : " 



"Your looks are snaky, and your glance malign." 



As for Satan, whom Cowper calls "Beelzebub," he is a 

 perfectly ridiculous personage, the very Bumble of devils. 



In his poem on the Tree of Knowledge, Cowley supposes 

 the serpent to be Pride, allegorically typified : 



" Henceforth, said God, the wretched sons of earth 

 Shall sweat for food in vain, 

 That will not long sustain ; 



And bring, with labour, forth each fond abortive birth ; 

 That serpent, too, their pride, 

 Which aims at things deny'd 

 That learn'd and el'quent lust- 

 Instead of mounting high, shall creep upon the dust." 



In the "Davideis" the snake again appears as the author 

 of mischief. The scene opens in Hell with Lucifer, in the 

 form of a gigantic serpent, seated on high : 



"Anon, a thousand devils run roaming in, 

 Some with a dreadful smile, deform'dly grin ; 

 Some stamp their cloven paws, some foam and tear 

 The gaping snakes from their black knotted hair." 



