Carol Ann Duffy - Mrs Midas Flashcards
(40 cards)
“It was late September I’d just poured a glass of wine, begun to unwind, while the vegetables cooked.
- Autumn things fade and die
- Ordinary and everyday scene
- Enjambment , “to unwind” isolated has negative connotations, emotionally about to fall apart.
“The kitchen filled with the steam of itself”
-Setting of a kitchen, symbolic of a “good wife” in old fashioned way. does not deserve poor treatment
“like a brow”
-Highlights stress and anxiety
“He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig”
-Word choice of snapping = childish
“Now the garden was long and the visibility poor”
-Conversational she is just an ordinary woman
"”The dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky”
-Opposites = the complex nature of relationships
“but that twig in his hand was gold”
-Bizarre image
“-We grew Fondante d’Automne-“
- Parenthesis, extra info for comedic affect
- Gold = high quality
- Mrs Midas = likeable
“like a lightbulb”
-Lightbulb = bright idea but not thought through
“I thought to myself, is he putting fairy lights in the tree”
-Humorous tone = the ridiculous nature of Mr Midas’ gift.
“The doorknobs gleamed”
-Word choice = influence of gold indoors
“He sat in that chair like a king on a burnished throne”
-Negative , he might think its great but it is actually the opposite
“The look on his face was strange, wild, vain”
-Highlights his craziness and selfishness
“He started to laugh”
-Selfishness
“I served up the meal”
-Old fashioned view of a wife, he is ungrateful
“he was spitting out teeth of the rich”
-Sarcasm, rich but unable to eat
“I poured with a shaking hand”
- She is afraid of him
- Shaking = terror
“a fragrant, bone-dry white from Italy, then watched as he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank”
- Sarcastic/Humorous Tone
- Gentle Mockery of husband
“I started to scream”
-Shift in tone = horror
“He sank to his knees”
-Pathetic image
“I finished the wine on my own”
-Enjambment, highlights isolation which is the consequence of his wish
“I made him sit on the other side of the room and keep his hands to himself”
-Physical and metaphorical distance In the relationship
“I locked the cat in the cellar”
-Dark humour to highlight gold = death
“;aurum, soft, untarnishable; slakes no thirst”
-List after semi-colon, all the uselessness of Gold
