Castoff Skin (1966)

She lay in her girlish sleep at ninety-six,
Small as a twig.
Pretty good figure

for an old lady, she said to me once.

Then she crawled away, leaving

a tiny stretched transparence

behind her. When I kissed her paper cheek
I thought of the snake,
of his quick motion.

Ruth Whitman

Answer the following questions with complete sentences. Give specific examples from the poem where indicated. Type your answers under each question.

1. What is the central metaphor of this poem?

a. Read the poem aloud and pay attention to the consonant sounds (alliteration) in each of the lines. What letter sound is most obvious? How does this sound contribute to the metaphor?

b. Describe the imagery the speaker of the poem uses to give life to this metaphor.

c. What might this metaphor suggest about the speaker’s view of death?

2. What can you tell about the woman who is described in the poem?

a. List the images the speaker uses to describe her?

b. What is the speaker’s attitude toward the old woman?

3. What, finally, do you think the poem is saying about death or dying?