The Snares of Death Encompassed Me

2024-09-19

Being caught in a trap was felt by the poet who wrote ‘The Snares of Death Encompassed Me’, but they had a way out. I was recently watching one of those ‘survival’ reality T.V. shows where people are thrown into the wilderness and they have to survive. The show was called ‘Alone’ and was in Tasmania, Australia. To survive, they had to catch their own food and build their own shelter, etc. One contestant decided to try to catch a Pademelon which is like a tiny kangaroo. So he made a snare t...

Being caught in a trap was felt by the poet who wrote ‘The Snares of Death Encompassed Me’, but they had a way out.

I was recently watching one of those ‘survival’ reality T.V. shows where people are thrown into the wilderness and they have to survive.

The show was called ‘Alone’ and was in Tasmania, Australia.

To survive, they had to catch their own food and build their own shelter, etc.

One contestant decided to try to catch a Pademelon which is like a tiny kangaroo.

So he made a snare trap

A snare trap is basically a rope noose that, when an animal passes through, it triggers the rope to tighten quickly around the animal and it is caught and can’t escape.

The hunter can then come and kill the animal.

But imagine the sense of being trapped by a rope. A rope that has grabbed you and you can’t get free. The more you struggle, the tighter it gets.

It might even be a net, and you are knotted into the mesh of the net.

Your heart is thumping. You’ve lost control and freedom.

Enter a poet who has been in that place.