Mrs Midas

Question 1

It was late September

Answer 1

Duffy presents Mrs Midas in a typical, domestic scene - the peak of the golden autumnal month. Also the time where things come to an end

Question 2

Filled with the smell of itself, relaxed, its steamy birth gently blanching the windows

Answer 2

Personification: illustration of a harmonious environment

Question 3

Fingers wiped the others glass like a brow

Answer 3

The references to touching convey the relationship enjoyed by the couple

Question 4

Snapping a twig

Answer 4

Final line shatters the peaceful mood. Violent snapping of twig contrasts mood from rest of first stanza

Question 5

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

Answer 5

Imagery: concept of a life force being drained and replaced by something evil is well expressed here

Question 6

Sat in his palm, like a lightbulb

Answer 6

The similar conveys both the shape of the pear and also the brightness emanating from it

Question 7

On.

Answer 7

The full stop adds a comedic effect highlighting ms Midas’ shock, disbelief and sudden dawning of awareness in her own mind as to what she has just witnessed

Question 8

Is he putting fairy lights in the tree

Answer 8

Light a humorous imagery is continued and contrasts with the seriousness of what has just happened and her incredulity is evident when she questions. Seeking a rational explanation

Question 9

The doorknobs gleamed

Answer 9

Relays midas’ journey through the house as he turns the doorknobs and blinds into gleaming gold

Question 10

The field of the cloth of gold and of miss macready

Answer 10

Wife thinks back to a school history lesson and the meeting of two kings from France and England in which they tried to outdo each in their displays of wealth. Ref to miss macready who was only concerned with appearance

Question 11

Like a king on a burnished throne

Answer 11

Midas becomes like a king when he sits on his thrown. It turns gold and this empowers and makes him feel superior and strong

Question 12

Strange, wild, vain

Answer 12

Facial expressions on midas’ face as he realises the tremendous power he has gained. He is beginning to become motivated by his greed.

Question 13

What in the name of god is going on?

Answer 13

Short abrupt sentence and end stop. Midas’ wife is extremely confused by what is going on. Her confused reaction causes her husband to laugh. His response is inappropriate- Very rude of Midas

Question 14

I served up the meal. For starters corn on the cob

Answer 14

Mrs Midas is trying to restore normality in going through normal everyday actions - trying to avoid the situation

Question 15

Spitting out the teeth of the rich

Answer 15

This comedic effect of it as a gift shows that Midas can no longer enjoy simple things in life. His ambition will cause him to starve, while emphasising that gold teeth are usually only seen in the mouths of the wealthy. He is trying to get rid of the wealth - dark humour

Question 16

I poured with a shaking hand

Answer 16

Mrs Midas fear is mounting and building up that she is even is immense fear to be near him

Question 17

Glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank

Answer 17

The realisation is captured in the transformation of the glass. Midas will soon realise that his miraculous gift will cause him harm and a heavy price. The harsh consonance of the ‘g’ sound, reflects the impact of the transformation. A poisoned Chalice?

Question 18

It was then that I started to scream. He sank to his knees

Answer 18

The sinking in of reality is further echoed in the first lines of Stanza 5 as both come to terms with his new power. Realisation.

Question 19

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

Answer 19

Mrs Midas finishes off the wine and forces her husband to sit alone. Even after becoming aware of the consequences, this humorous line reveals that while Midas still seeks to enjoy a physical relationship with his wife, his new “gift” means that he will be deprived this pleasure. Emotional conflict

Question 20

I locked the cat in the cellar. I moved the phone.The toilet I didn’t mind.

Answer 20

Humour - The stanza ends with Mrs Midas relaying the precautions she took to protect the cat by locking it in the cellar and then moving the phone, but allowing the toilet (Allusion to ‘The Throne’) to be changed into gold. Materialistic side to her.

Question 21

Look, we all have wishes; granted. But who has wishes granted? Him.

Answer 21

Structure - rhetorical question monosyllabic minor sentence which answers her question ‘Him’ conveys his disgust with her husband

Question 22

Do you know about gold? It feeds no one

Answer 22

Structure - However, it is Midas’ wish for gold that is outrageous; she asks another rhetorical question and answers it. Tone - She is truly aggrieved by this and goes on to justify the futility of such a wish since gold ‘feeds no one’. In doing so she exposes the inherent lack of real value of gold.

Question 23

At least, I said, you’ll be able to give up smoking for good.

Answer 23

Humour - is injected to contrast with this harsh fact as Mrs Midas considers with sardonic practicality how the situation will mean that at least Midas will be able to stop smoking.

Question 24

Separate beds.

Answer 24

Structure - Single statement: The remainder of the poem continues to highlight the damage Midas’ gift has done to their once loving relationship. Then it transpires, on separate floors, indicating the widening gulf between them.

Question 25

turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Answer 25

Humour/Imagery - Although there is still humour in the use of internal rhyme: ‘tomb/ Tutankhamun’, the imagery now carries connotations of death and symbolises that their relationship and dreams are effectively dead.

Question 26

those halcyon days; unwrapping each other, rapidly,

like presents, fast food

Answer 26

Contrast Imagery – Of physical suffering they must now endure, compared to the fulfilling relationship ‘Halcyon days’ – (perfect times)they enjoyed before he was granted his wish. Halcyon - mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.

Question 27

I feared his honeyed embrace,

Answer 27

Metaphor - However, she now rightly fears Midas’ ‘honeyed embrace’ since it would be deadly to her. Sweet but sickly. Restricted in movement. Uncomfortable

Question 28

who, when it comes to the crunch, can live

with a heart of gold?

Answer 28

Metaphor - Expression usually has positive connotations and is associated with kindness. This metaphor is ironically inverted as the literal meaning is implied, inferring that it would be impossible to survive as a living being with such a heart.

Question 29

I dreamt I bore his child

Answer 29

Perhaps the most poignant image in this poem is her sadness of being deprived the opportunity to have a real baby

Question 30

its perfect ore limbs, its little tongue like a precious latch,

Answer 30

A superficial, initially attractive description of the baby she dreamt about is given. Interested in appearance.

Question 31

amber eyes holding their pupils like flies

Answer 31

Imagery – But this descends into a disturbing image as these flame coloured eyes are deemed to be ‘holding their pupils like flies.’ A symbol of lifelessness.

Question 32

dream milk burned in my breasts.

Answer 32

Imagery - The speaker’s longing for a child is encapsulated here and it is perhaps this image of thwarted maternal love that reveals the true cost of Midas’ greed.

Question 33

I woke to the streaming sun.

Answer 33

Waking to the ‘streaming sun’, again, poignantly reminds us that each day she will awake to a world in which gold dominates every waking moment.

Question 34

So he had to move out

Answer 34

In Stanza 9, the consequences of the myth and the effect on their lives continues to destroy their relationship as Mrs Midas bluntly informs us: ‘So he had to move out.’

Question 35

We’d a caravan

Answer 35

Mrs Midas’ embarrassment at her husband’s behaviour is conveyed in the way drives him to live in their isolated caravan. Reveals her sense of shame

Question 36

under the cover of dark. He sat in the back.

Answer 36

Mrs Midas’ embarrassment at her husband’s behaviour is conveyed in the way drives him to live in their isolated caravan. Reveals her sense of shame. Doesnt want anyone to see their closeness - ashamed of her associations.

Question 37

the woman who married the fool

Answer 37

Third person narrative - She returns alone as: ‘the woman who married the fool’, clearly blaming her husband for stupidly wishing for gold while reflecting on the derision and mockery of gossipmongers.

Question 38

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

Answer 38

The fact she parks the car ‘a good way off‘ emphasises her continued fear of her husband’s gift and shame.

Question 39

Golden trout on the grass. One day, a hare hung from a larch

Answer 39

Solitary image – Stanza 10 describes his distanced, detached separate lifestyle as she describes the rural single golden items and other evidence of his folly she discovers on her walk from the parked car to her husband. These images are the legacy he leaves behind him rather than the perfect child she longed for.

Question 40

his footprints, glistening next to the river’s path

Answer 40

Destruction to natural beauty by his cold metallic presence - ruining the aesthetic by his unforgivable greed.

Question 41

He was thin,delirious; hearing, he said, the music of Pan

Answer 41

Unable to slake his appetite or his thirst, Midas is driven ‘delirious’ She describes him in a sorrowful state as ‘thin.’His delirium leads him to believe he can hear the ‘music of Pan.’ This associates him with another Greek God, this time the isolated figure of Pan who was the God of shepherds and flocks (also sung for Midas in Greek myths). We note the irony that a gift so equated with wealth and prosperity should result in such emotional poverty.

Question 42

Listen. That was the last straw.

Answer 42

This proves to be the breaking point for Mrs Midas.

Question 43

What gets me now is not the idiocy or greed but lack of thought for me. Pure selfishness.

Answer 43

The final Stanza stresses Mrs Midas’ anger and reflection at her husband’s ‘pure selfishness’ in making his wish which has not only affected him but also deprived both of any physical relationship but also of his wife’s chance to have her dream baby.

Question 44

I think of him in certain lights, dawn, late afternoon

Answer 44

She still loves her husband although they can never be together. She thinks about him frequently and, as is typical with people who are forced apart for whatever reason, things she sees can suddenly remind her of him and what she has lost

Question 45

, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch

Answer 45

In a poignant line, she remembers fondly their once full, physical relationship and mourns its passing. Repetition - emphasises too that his touch, once a potent symbol of their intimacy is now lost forever. The final line is one that could be spoken by millions of women who have lost their life partner (the last word of the poem being the most significant).
Of course, the situation described in the poem is “fantastic” in the true sense of that word, but the sentiment is real enough. Relationships are often ruined through idiocy or greed.