Cottonmouth Country by Louise Gluck

Fish bones walked the waves off Hatteras.
And there were other signs
That Death wooed us, by water, wooed us
By land: among the pines
An uncurled cottonmouth that rolled on moss
Reared in the polluted air
Birth, not death, is the hard loss.
I know. I also left a skin there.


Let's just say I don't understand the poem exactly, so I had to do some research on some keyword throughout the poem. The first word I looke up was Hatteras, I assumed that this was a place near a patch of water, and I was correct Hatteras is a little town in North Carolina near the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. This is why fish bones are laying across it. The next word that I looked up was Cottonmouth, not exactly sure what that was and discovered that it is a snake, not just any snake but the only poisonous water snake in North America (Snakes our my greatest fear in my life, so I don't like this poem because of the snake!!) From looking up those words I tried putting the pieces together. I know most of the poem is about death, just by it talking about death, but what meaning is she trying to convey throught death and what does it mean to her. The title of the poem Cottonmouth Country which in translation means deadly snake. So i am going to make some assumptions about the poem by the poem saying that where ever the Cottonwood Snake goes, so does death. I don't if that is actually what the poem is saying, but that is my prediction for the poem.

I also know that this poem is octave strusture with a rhyming scheme. I believe that the rhyming scheme is ABABCDCD so it is pretty simple. This poem is a lyric poem, where the poem has a reflective tone and also has a subject to it. This poem is not a ballad because it is not written in quatrains, basic rhyme scheme, and not very songlike quality.