poems Mrs Midas Flashcards
“to unwind”
Sets a casual, relaxed opening tone. Shows she is happy at the moment.
“It was late September”
It is autumn, when things start to turn gold.
“the vegetables cooked”
As if the vegetables are cooking themselves, makes her life seem easy
“The kitchen filled with the smell of itself, relaxed, its steamy breath”
Kitchen is personified as if it is doing all of the work for her
“fingers wiped”
She clears the window to see her husband so her and her husband are connected through touching
“He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig.”
In contrast to the positive setting of the
kitchen he is destroying life
“Now the garden was long and the visibility poor, the way the dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky”
Her trying to justify what she can see, she doesn’t believe it has turned gold.
“We grew Fondante d’Automne”
Suggest she is still quite relaxed at this point and that her and her husband may actually be quite wealthy
“and it sat in his palm like a light bulb.”
Compares the shape of a pear to the shape of a light bulb and suggests the pear is bright. ‘light bulb’ suggests he has just had a bright idea.
“Is he putting fairy lights in the tree?”
She is still trying to rationalise what she is seeing
“the field of cloth of gold”
Reference to Henry VIII and Francis I of France. They constantly tried to out do each other by being more luxurious
“Miss Macready”
Reference to Narnia, Mrs Macready was more interested in her property than people
“like a king on a burnished throne.”
Reference to Shakespeare, Anthony and Cleopatra
“strange, wild, vain.”
Suggests he has suddenly realised the power he has
“What in the name of God is going on?”
Normal domestic phrase as if she is still trying to figure out what is going on.
“He started to laugh.”
Inappropriate, blunt reaction
“I served up the meal.”
She is still trying to keep things normal
“spitting out the teeth of the rich”
Comparing corn of the cob to teeth, showing that they have turned to gold
