Int 2 Old Woman key quotes and mini essay ?s (2)

We have just looked at last section of poem. Remember Table 4 is to be completed as homework for Monday!!!

Halfway through stanza 5 the focus switches from husband (old man) back to his wife - the old woman. The poet offers a horrific picture of this skeletal woman with little or nothing going on in her brain. Her head is like a death's head skull - imagery focus on the teeth as in a skull that is often the most noticeable feature. He further suggests she has no thoughts as she is "wishless" and the idea contained in "knotted head" is continued into the next simile where the prominent veins on her face are compared to seaweed floating in the sea. The last two lines of the poem switch to a more universal theme and Crichton Smith vents his anger at the uncaring and unforgiving Calvinist God who does not notice people and makes their life meanginless.

The key quotations are:
“I saw the teeth/tighten their grip around a delicate death”
“And nothing moved within the knotted head
“a few poor veins as one might see/
vague wishless seaweed floating…”
“all the salty waters where had died/too many waves to mark two or more.”
“Old Woman”
“He” “she” “her husband”
“men and women”

Mini Essay 1:
Show how in the first two stanzas of the poem Iain Crichton Smith conveys the old woman’s suffering and dehumanisation through imagery and word choice and shows how close she is to a long slow drawn out death.

Mini Essay 2:
Explain the poet’s personal feelings and reactions to the old couple. Discuss his views on death and show how his use of language and imagery effectively demonstrates his personal views on the old couple and the old woman’s looming death.

Mini Essay 3:
Consider how Iain Crichton Smith makes you pity the husband and his burden and how he makes you understand that the husband is hopelessly praying for his wife’s death. You should refer to his use of imagery and language chosen to show his plight.