"Symbiosis or Death": - Rhodes University

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sections, headed by Roman numerals. The blackbird poem is 54 lines long, while the
snake poem has 52 lines, and is therefore neatly divisible by 13.
Livingstone’s poem is an astounding examination of how man’s relationship to
nature has degenerated into one of terror with no countering sense of fascination. The
poem repeatedly explores human inflicted cruelty on the snake and struggles to find
humankind’s lost connections with nature through the image of the black snake. In
contrast, Wallace Stevens’ poem (which examines various ways of looking at the
blackbird) implies an ideal ecological state:
A man and a woman
Are one.
A man and a woman and a blackbird
Are one.
section IV
The symbolic import of Livingstone’s snake is a function of human attitude or
perspective. His portrayal of human antipathy towards the snake shows that the
ecological ideal implied by Wallace has been lost or betrayed. In Livingstone’s poem, the
feminine and the masculine are shown to be diametrically opposed (section VI). The
snake, unlike the blackbird, is not “one” with humanity.
“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Snake” implies: (a) that man’s destructive
relationship with nature is based on fear, betrayal and cruelty; (b) that the black snake, for
Livingstone, represents humanity’s confused consciousness; and (c) that the snake also
represents earthly (as opposed to heavenly) life where reverence towards the Creative
Principle behind nature is offered as a means of righting humankind’s destructive
perspective.
Section I introduces the theme of betrayal through the reference to “an Iscariot”, 42
an indefinite or universal betrayer, who is both unaware of and surprised by the snake:
… an Iscariot awakening with a start
to see a black snake worm out of his heart.
42 Judas of Iscariot betrayed Christ and so was directly instrumental in His crucifixion. There may be a
connection, through “an Iscariot”, with the unlucky number 13. The superstition of it being unlucky for 13
people to be seated at a table has its roots in Norse mythology where Loki, the god of strife, intruded on a
banquet at Valhalla and Balder was slain. For Christians, this superstition was confirmed through the last
supper of Christ and his 12 disciples (Brewer 1075).