Ruth Whitman's Castoff Skin uses a snake and its ability to shed its skin as the central metaphor of this poem about the passing away of a ninety-six year old woman. The speaker uses figurative language and imagery to convey this metaphor in the poem. In Castoff Skin the speaker tells us the woman was "small as a twig", "crawled away", left a "tiny stretched transparence behind her", and reminds the speaker of "the snake" with "his quick motion", (Whitman 1966). All of these images suggest the shedding of the skin by a snake. The snake is often able to disguise itself in the woods by resembling a twig. A snake crawls away like the old woman's life ebbs away. Snakes often leave a stretched "transparent" version of themselves in the shed skin they leave behind after molting. Further, the old woman's life ultimately passes so quickly it reminds the speaker of the often quick motions of a snake.
Whitman also relies heavily on alliteration in Castoff Skin to mimic the slithering and sounds of a snake. The letter "s" is used throughout
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