Mrs Midas

Question 1

He was standing under the pear tree snapping a twig

Answer 1

Atmosphere is shattered by the final line
Snapping- connotates something violent
Especially important since it is her calm he is breaking
Emphasises themes

Question 2

Now the garden was long and the visibility poor

Answer 2

Her disbelief emphasised by the length of time she takes to comprehend what she is seeing

Question 3

Like a light bulb. On.

Answer 3

Minor sentence, dramatic effect highlights disbelief
Unnatural
Perhaps symbolises Midas realising

Question 4

He came into the house. The doorknobs gleamed. He drew the blinds.

Answer 4

Short sentence

Basic sentence marks her confusion as he goes around the house

Question 5

Like a king on a burnished throne.

Answer 5

Present image but foreshows his hubris/pride

Question 6

The look of his face was strange, wild, vain.

Answer 6

Refers to delirium dur to rush of power, pride- she does not know her husband

Question 7

What in the name of god is going on? He started to laugh.

Answer 7

Rhetorical question 
Emphasises her confusion and fear
His response seems to brush off her feelings, foreshadowing the end of the relationship and the ways he wronged her
He's already disregarding how she feels 
Awakens us from glow

Question 8

I served up a meal

Answer 8

Simple sentence

Attempt to cling to normality

Question 9

He asked where was the wine. I poured with a shaking hand

Answer 9

While he celebrates she is anxious

Question 10

A fragrant, bone-dry white from italy

Answer 10

Word choice

Pleasant civilised life they had is now being soiled

Question 11

I made him sit

On the other side of the room and keep his hands to himself

Answer 11

Loss of physical relationship

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Shows her personality
Concerned, ground, calm, humours
Practical, she’s saving the cat but also amused at the prospect of a golden toilet

Question 13

It feeds no one; aurum, soft, untarnishable; slakes no thirst

Answer 13

The intolerable reproductions begin to emerge

Question 14

Separate beds.

Answer 14

The caesura marks the significance of the consequence. The finality

Question 15

Turning the spare room

Into the tomb of tutankhamun

Answer 15

Allusion to threat and death

Allusion to the curse: the greedy are cursed with death (of him and perhaps the relationship)

Question 16

In those halcyon days

Answer 16

Past tense and word choice (halcyon= joyful, tranquil, carefree) emphasise how much they lost

Question 17

I dreamt i bore
His child, its perfect limbs, its little tongue
Like a precious latch, its amber eyes
Holding their pupils like flies

Answer 17

Lamenting the loss of the baby she can no longer have
Tone of loss sadness
Idea of entrapment

Question 18

So he had to move out

Answer 18

Caesura

Marks the finality of the actions and detachment the narrator now feels towards her partner, perhaps anger

Question 19

He sat in the back

Answer 19

Her detachment and anger

Question 20

The woman who married the fool

Answer 20

Wc: fool
Midas has made a fool of his wife who committed to a future with him
A future he ruined

Question 21

At first, I visited, odd times

Answer 21

Visits only out of obligation

Question 22

Parking the car a good way off

Answer 22

Emphasises the distance thats now between them

Question 23

Beautiful lemon mistake

Answer 23

Tone of sadness

Question 24

What gets me now is… his lack of thought for me. Pure selfishness.

Answer 24

Level headed reflection
Acknowledging his character flaws but was willing to accept them
Apathy towards her hurts the most
Simple sentence to sum it up

Question 25

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

Answer 25

She is haunted by him

Emphasises by somber list

Question 26

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

Answer 26

Crux of poem
His greed caused him to forsake intimacy
Link to the common phrase “the midas touch” often used positively yet here marks bitter loss
Emphasised by reputation of hands