Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow:
Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him? Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him? Was it humility, to feel so honoured?
I felt so honoured.
Paraphrase. The poet asks himself if he was a coward as he dared not kill the snake. He thought if it was unreasonable and illogical to long to talk to a snake. He again asked himself if it was his humility that he felt so much honoured by the presence of the snake. Really, he felt so much honoured by his presence.
Questions
(a) What was his cowardice?
(b) What was perversity?
(c) What is the word for ‘lack of courage’ in the passage?
