Leopard Skin is about a boy who maintains a faade and conceals

his inner self. In the Park is about a woman who meets her previous
lover in the park, and puts on a faade.
Both poems are about putting on a faade for others. The persona in
Leopard Skin practices putting on a faade even in private. The
poem reveals the awkwardness and unnatural nature of his
pretense; the persona crooned and capered / Alone in his room in
weird adolescent joy; this makes his attempts at putting up a
faade seem desperate and it gives the persona a sense of
vulnerability. It makes his putting up of a faade contemptible, and
this idea is reinforced by the fact that He miaous at the
leopardesses; this makes him seem tame and sees him falling short
of the image he tries to portray, deflating the buildup of this
pretense when it was earlier described with active verbs like slay,
sin and prowls. The persona in Leopard Skin thus puts on a
faade, which is described as contemptible and amusing; this is
similar to the persona in In the Park, although the faade she
presents evokes pity rather than amusement and contempt. The
persona in In the Park finds it too late / to feign indifference to that
casual nod. The line break after too late mirrors her hesitation
and moment of panic and insecurity, and reveals vulnerability that is
on par with the persona from Leopard Skin. Unlike Leopard Skin
however, the personas vulnerability evokes pity from us as she
(stands) a while in flickering light, rehearsing / the childrens names
and birthdays, even though they have eaten (her) alive. The
faade she puts up resembles the flickering light, showing how
difficult it is to put up such a faade, and also reveals the
desperation she has, like the persona from Leopard Skin. However,
her desperate attempt to put up a faade against the sordid reality
of her situation makes us pity her because we understand and
sympathise with her need to put up a faade; she does so for better
reasons than those of the persona in Leopard Skin, who does so only
to make girls, adore him.
Also, both poems use the symbol of clothes to convey this idea of
putting on a show, albeit to different effects. In Leopard Skin,
Seven pairs of leopard skin underpants are mentioned. While
clothes are traditionally meant to symbolise a repackaging of the
interior and the protection of vulnerable nudity, underpants here
serves to reinforce the idea that the persona holds his faade as a
protection of his inner self; it is an intimate piece of cloth and shows
us how he uses his facade as a projection of his most intimate
dreams and hopes. This is further highlighted by the fact that the
leopard prints are a bold fashion statement because it is so eyecatching it makes his faade one that is full of hopes. This is
contrasted with the clothes of the persona In the Park, which are
out of date. They symbolise her lack of hope and the lethargy of
her soul because she does not give attention to her appearance.

Also, her child (tugs) her skirt, making even her clothes a
representation of her burdens. While the clothes of the persona in
Leopard Skin are a projection of youthful energy and hopes, the
clothes of the persona in In the Park only serve to illustrate the
burdens and lethargy which her faade serves to hide, making it a
more pitiable one.
Both poems also see the domestic part of life as a private one that
the personas strive to conceal. The persona in Leopard Skin has his
faade made amusing by the fact that his underpants are flying on
the rotary clothes-line, a very domestic image which contrasts with
one of him having slain a leopard, which shows bravery and a lack
of comfort and safety which is experienced in a house. This idea of
the domestic part of life sees him as a mothers boy, (and thus a)
softy, and it is a part of himself which he seeks to conceal because
the softness and safety of the home contrasts with the flashy image
of bravery and youth which he seeks to portray. While it makes the
persona in Leopard Skin build a faade to conceal it because the
home makes him soft and seemingly over-protected, the domestic
part of the personas life in In the Park has a different effect. It
makes the personas ex love think that for the grace of God he
had not had to take the same path as the persona, who has devoted
herself to the domestic part of her life, raising children. It has left
her so lethargic and destroyed that she has no one to talk to but to
the wind, evoking a further sense of pity at her state. We see that
the home, to her, is one that she seeks to conceal because of what
it has taken from her, evoking pity rather than amusement, an
emotion that we feel at Leopard Skins persona, who seeks to
conceal the home because it is contrary to his image of youth and
freedom, a seemingly contemptible reason in contrast.
In all, the two poems revolve around putting up a faade to conceal
the personas innerselves, albeit for different reasons, which make
us feel pity at In the Park, while scorn and amusement at Leopard
Skin.