Snail Races Poem

When it comes to animals there are a lot of poems related to them. In the same way, when it comes to snails many authors have written poems on this insect. This snail poem is written by Denise Rodgers and is one of the finest works in her career. In fact, she has written many animal-related poems for kids. In the same way, this is a snail poem for preschool kids. 

Here, in this beautifully-crafted poem, the poet has mostly described the nature of snails. We all know that snails are one of the slowest creatures on this planet. The poet, thinking of its characteristics and nature, has written this poem for kids. She even tried to make it fun for the little kids to learn faster. Further, in this article, we will talk about the Snail Races poem summary, the theme of the Snail Races poem, and the moral of the poem. 

Snail Races Poem Lyrics 

“There never is a slower pace 

Than snails competing in a race.

On your mark, get set and go.

The one that’s way ahead and slow.

The one that’s far behind is slower.

Most snails are more stop than go-er.

Perhaps there are no slower tales 

than races made up of such snails.”

Snail Races Poem lyrics

Snail Races Poem Summary 

Before moving into the explanation of the poem we can see it is an eight-line poem. Interestingly, they have not separated evenly; the first half consists of six lines, and the second stanza consists of two lines. An 8-line poem in English is called Octave. It is a verse that consists of eight lines of iambic pentameter. In fact, the most common rhyme scheme used in such poems is ABBA ABBA. Below is the explanation of the poem given above:-

Lines 1-2:-

Very simple words are used in this poem by the poet. The poem talks about snails having a race and how they react to the race. The nature and characteristics of snails are portrayed quite beautifully. The first lines of the poem start with how slow snails can be in a race. We can see that there are a few snails that are competing in a race but they are all very slow in it. Just by the word use of the speaker in the poem, we can see that she is quite irritated by snails being so slow. 

Slow Snail

Lines 3-4:-

In the third line of the poem, we can see the speaker is the judge in the race. Before starting the race, the speaker in the poem uses the common three-command start. The three-command start is used for every race around the world and that is “On your mark, get set and go.” These are the exact words being used by the speaker before the race starts. Immediately when the three-command ends there is a snail that gives a good headstart but the speaker describes his pace as “slow”. This simply proves that the other snails behind him are way slower. 

Lines 5-6:-

In the fifth line of this poem, the speaker herself clears that the snail who is last is the slowest of all. But, in the next line of the poem the speaker says all the snails are very slow even the one who is first. Instead of moving forward these snails stop more often which is quite strange when there is a race going on. Additionally, the poet did not reveal why the race was being held. The race was being held just to see who is the fastest snail in the group. 

Lines 7-8:-

These are the last lines of this poem. Unfortunately, the speaker did not reveal if the first snail wins the race or not. She describes the whole situation as “there are no slower tales”. The speaker was expecting the race to be quick but that did not go as she thought. Instead, it could have been the slowest race that the speaker has ever seen in her life. In the end, we can understand how slow snails are and their nature will always be slow even if you put them on a running machine. 

Snails Racing 

The Theme of the Poem Snail Races 

Denise Rodgers has portrayed the “slowness” in this world through the races of snails. Snail racing is a fictitious work that has been perfectly portrayed by the poet. The young generation will surely get irritated when things are slow. Slow work will further delay everything which is not appreciated by people around the world. In fact, through this poem, we could see that the speaker (poet) is quite irritated by the slowness of the snails. 

Summary 

The moral of this poem is “one must not be slow to achieve their goals”. If you want to be successful in life then start working on them immediately with no further delay. Once things start to get slow then the interest and focus lose on the goal. The target to achieve something in life should always be big and not delayed on them. 

This poem is a great example for young kids to start working on their careers at a young age itself. Once the precious time is gone it will never come back again. We learned about snails through this article by reading a poem on snails and understanding its meaning and theme. We hope this article was beneficial for you, in case of any other doubts feel free to ask in the comments.