In the poem “To the Snake” the author Denise Levertov use
several writing techniques to portray money and gambling. She
uses syntax, sound imagery, color imagery, figurative language,
and symbolism to represent money and gambling. Symbolism is used
cleverly throughout the poem to depict a number of things that
would take numerous readings to see. Throughout the poem the
sentences are structured so that every other sentence is
indented, with exception to the first two and the last four. In
those sentences not indented the author chose to make every
other sentence shorter so that the ends were uneven. This syntax
structure gives the reader the feeling of something hard to
catch or control. The author did this because money, as it is
depicted in the poem, is something this person can’t handle. In
other words this person can’t get control of money, instead the
want of money is controlling them. This introduces the idea of
gambling into the poem. In the poem it says, “…I swore to my
companions that certainly you w