Skin

Question 1

What are the 2 ideas within the poem?

Answer 1

1. Society’s beauty standards, that the speaker critiques
2. The speakers apology for following these standards

Question 2

1 - ‘You cannot always keep that __ young surface’

Answer 2

unfakeable - direct address = inevitability of aging, that society attempt to avoid

Question 3

1 - ‘You must learn your __’

Answer 3

lines - pun = performance, that people conform to the expectations of society, and instead should embrace the natural wrinkles of age/their skin

Question 4

1 - ‘sand-laden __’

Answer 4

wind - unpleasant nature of time passing and aging, that corrupts our beauty/skin

Question 5

1 - ‘parch then; be __; sag’

Answer 5

roughened - listing+ semantic field = describes the aging process as being destructive of ones beauty

Question 6

2 - ‘And __ me’

Answer 6

parden - apology to his skin for not living his life to the fullest

Question 7

2 - ‘no brash __’

Answer 7

festivity - the celebration of life, that he didn’t take part in, as he was too concerned for following societies beauty standards

Question 8

2 - ‘till the fashion __’

Answer 8

changes - pun = beauty standards are always changing anyway