Carol Ann Duffy - Mrs Midas Flashcards

1
Q

“It was late September I’d just poured a glass of wine, begun to unwind, while the vegetables cooked.

A
  • Autumn things fade and die
  • Ordinary and everyday scene
  • Enjambment , “to unwind” isolated has negative connotations, emotionally about to fall apart.
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2
Q

“The kitchen filled with the steam of itself”

A

-Setting of a kitchen, symbolic of a “good wife” in old fashioned way. does not deserve poor treatment

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3
Q

“like a brow”

A

-Highlights stress and anxiety

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4
Q

“He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig”

A

-Word choice of snapping = childish

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5
Q

“Now the garden was long and the visibility poor”

A

-Conversational she is just an ordinary woman

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6
Q

"”The dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky”

A

-Opposites = the complex nature of relationships

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7
Q

“but that twig in his hand was gold”

A

-Bizarre image

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8
Q

“-We grew Fondante d’Automne-“

A
  • Parenthesis, extra info for comedic affect
  • Gold = high quality
  • Mrs Midas = likeable
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9
Q

“like a lightbulb”

A

-Lightbulb = bright idea but not thought through

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10
Q

“I thought to myself, is he putting fairy lights in the tree”

A

-Humorous tone = the ridiculous nature of Mr Midas’ gift.

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11
Q

“The doorknobs gleamed”

A

-Word choice = influence of gold indoors

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12
Q

“He sat in that chair like a king on a burnished throne”

A

-Negative , he might think its great but it is actually the opposite

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13
Q

“The look on his face was strange, wild, vain”

A

-Highlights his craziness and selfishness

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14
Q

“He started to laugh”

A

-Selfishness

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15
Q

“I served up the meal”

A

-Old fashioned view of a wife, he is ungrateful

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16
Q

“he was spitting out teeth of the rich”

A

-Sarcasm, rich but unable to eat

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17
Q

“I poured with a shaking hand”

A
  • She is afraid of him

- Shaking = terror

18
Q

“a fragrant, bone-dry white from Italy, then watched as he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank”

A
  • Sarcastic/Humorous Tone

- Gentle Mockery of husband

19
Q

“I started to scream”

A

-Shift in tone = horror

20
Q

“He sank to his knees”

A

-Pathetic image

21
Q

“I finished the wine on my own”

A

-Enjambment, highlights isolation which is the consequence of his wish

22
Q

“I made him sit on the other side of the room and keep his hands to himself”

A

-Physical and metaphorical distance In the relationship

23
Q

“I locked the cat in the cellar”

A

-Dark humour to highlight gold = death

24
Q

“;aurum, soft, untarnishable; slakes no thirst”

A

-List after semi-colon, all the uselessness of Gold

25
Q

“You’ll be able to give up smoking for good”

A
  • Tragic line.

- Should be funny but its not, masks the fact that certain death awaits down the road

26
Q

“Separate beds”

A

-Isolation

27
Q

“Unwrapping each other”

A

-Love making no longer possible”

28
Q

“can live with a heart of gold”

A

-Play on words = Death

29
Q

“That night, I dreamt I bore his child”

A

-Tragic idea as physical contact no longer possible

30
Q

“My dream milk burned in my breasts”

A

-Robbed of being a mother by his selfish actions

31
Q

“I woke to the streaming sun”

A

-Cold light of day

32
Q

“So he had to move out”

A

-Further Distance

33
Q

“And then I came home”

A

-Alone

34
Q

“the woman who married the fool who wished for gold “

A

-Mrs Midas now defined by her husbands greed

35
Q

“At first, I visited, odd times, parking the car a good way off, then walking”

A
  • Commas = trepidation

- Emphasis on ever growing distance

36
Q

“You knew you were getting close……That was the last straw”

A

-This stanza focuses on the idea of gold symbolising his isolation and impending death. for Mrs Midas gold is now upsetting to see

37
Q

“What gets me now is not the idiocy or greed but lack of thought for me”

A

-Central concern, she did not matter to him

38
Q

“Pure Selfishness”

A

-Short Sentence = Anger

39
Q

“I sold the contents of the house”

A

-Word choice of sold = she lost everything so much gold but not even close to rich

40
Q

“I miss most, even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch”

A

-Heart-breaking final line lists all the things she misses.

None are material, all examples of love and passion, his greed and selfishness robbed her of it.