He lifted his head from his drinking as cattles do, And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattles do, And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and...

Answer Details

The extract is from D.H. Lawrence's poem "Snake." The key detail that identifies the poetic object is the phrase "flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips." A two-forked (forked) tongue is a distinctive anatomical feature of snakes, used to detect chemical signals in the environment.

The other details in the extract are consistent with this identification:

• "He lifted his head from his drinking" describes a snake raising its head from a water trough, which is the central scene of the poem.
• "As cattle do" is a simile comparing the snake's unhurried, deliberate drinking posture to that of cattle at a trough.
• "Looked at me vaguely" and "mused a moment" personify the snake, giving it a contemplative quality that is characteristic of Lawrence's respectful portrayal of the animal.

None of the other options possess a forked tongue: elephants, birds, and humans do not have this feature.

The correct answer is a snake.