Learning objectives:

•AO1: respond to texts critically and

imaginatively, select and evaluate textual detail
to illustrate and support interpretations.

•AO2: explain how language, structure and form

contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas,
themes and settings.
Medusa – Carol Ann Duffy
 How much can you remember?

What can you remember about the Greek

mythological character Medusa?

What can you remember about the character in Carol

Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Medusa’?

Can anyone remember the form (type) of poem?

Medusa And here you come
  I glanced at a buzzing bee, with a shield for a heart
A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy a dull grey pebble fell and a sword for a tongue
grew in my mind, to the ground. and your girls, your girls.
which turned the hairs on my head I glanced at a singing bird, Wasn’t I beautiful?
to filthy snakes, a handful of dusty gravel Wasn’t I fragrant and young?
as though my thoughts spattered down.  
hissed and spat on my scalp.   Look at me now.
  I looked at a ginger cat,  
My bride’s breath soured, stank a housebrick  
in the grey bags of my lungs. shattered a bowl of milk. CAROL ANN DUFFY
I’m foul mouthed now, foul I looked at a snuffling pig,  
tongued, a boulder rolled
yellow fanged. in a heap of shit.
There are bullet tears in my eyes.  
Are you terrified? I stared in the mirror.
  Love gone bad
Be terrified. showed me a Gorgon.
It’s you I love, I stared at a dragon.
perfect man, Greek God, my own; Fire spewed
but I know you’ll go, betray me, from the mouth of a mountain.
stray  
from home.
So better by far for me if you were
stone.
 
 Recapping the Poem

In Duffy’s poem, the character, our

modern day Medusa, is scared that
her husband will betray her. As a
result of how she feels, Medusa
develops the power to turn any
living thing she looks at into stone.
The dramatic monologue offers an unusual
perspective on the Gorgon Medusa, who is typified
for the terror she causes through her ugliness and
her foetid breath (sickening smell).

Duffy’s poem allows her, Medusa, a chance to tell

her story.

Duffy wants us to consider a different view, to see

her as a woman who fearing betrayal (lead astray,
deceive a person’s trust) has developed the terrible
physical characteristics of the mythological Greek
character ‘Medusa’.
 Poetic Techniques
Poetic techniques
Examples
and devices

alliteration ‘hissed and spat on my scalp’

metaphor

verbs

repetition

questions

imperative
sentences

pleasant images

ugly images

one line stanza

narrative voice
 Look at the words below.
Which words would you pick to describe
Medusa?

MEDUSA
LONELY vulnerable
man-hater EVIL
jealous sensitive

How have you come to these conclusions

about Medusa?
 Task
In small groups work through the
series of questions to help your
understanding and interpretation of
Duffy’s poem ‘Medusa’?
 Medusa
Jealous mind – a person
who is suspicious about her
husband’s fidelity
(faithfulness)
 Jealousy is very destructive for
the speaker.
Mindset of the speaker – we, as the
Once the idea has set in, she is
reader, are forced to make a
unable to get it out of her
connection with her and empathise
mind.
with her

A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy

grew in my mind,
which turned the hairs on my head to filthy snakes,
as though my thoughts
The destructive power
hissed and spat on my scalp. of her jealousy is
likened to the Greek
Feeling of self Myth
loathing by the Alliteration: repetition of ‘s’ sound
speaker. to reinforce jealous theme (snakes) Snakes are associated
with jealousy
Referring back in time: youthful, Literal sense
positive and optimistic Like a snake – alliterative quality of
the ‘s’ sound reinforces the idea of
self-loathing

My bride’s breath soured, stank Images of decay – her

in the grey bags of my lungs. loathing is so powerful that
she despises herself
I’m foul mouthed now, foul tongued,
yellow fanged.
There are bullet tears in my eyes. Metaphor reflects her stony
Are you terrified? and hard feelings

Indirect warning to her

Direct question to the mythological character
husband’s infidelity
Perseus (who beheaded her)
 Direct address to her own ‘Perseus’.

Reveals her possessiveness over her husband, Use of half-rhyme to reinforce

idealised language contrasts to violent threats. the theme of jealousy which is
turning her into a monster
Be terrified.
It’s you I love,
perfect man, Greek God, my own;
but I know you’ll go, betray me, stray
from home.
So better by far for me if you were stone.

Prefers the man she loves to be stone rather

than belonging to someone else.
Once again the jealous self-loathing is
obvious. This serves as a warning to her
husband.
I glanced at a buzzing bee, I looked at a ginger cat,
a dull grey pebble fell a housebrick
to the ground. shattered a bowl of milk.
I glanced at a singing bird, I looked at a snuffling pig,
a handful of dusty gravel a boulder rolled
spattered down. in a heap of shit.
 
Shocking, unpleasant – reinforcing waste
and decay as Medusa contemplates his EVERYTHING SHE LOOKS AT TURNS TO
betrayal STONE

Powerful and destructive.

Verb phrases become stronger
Her feelings of jealousy and betrayal
become more concentrated as she
transforms larger creatures.
 Completes her emotional state and
She is the only one who can endure her
completes the sequence of verbs
gaze
beginning with ‘glanced’ and ‘looked’

I stared in the mirror.

Love gone bad Jealousy has turned her into a monster
showed me a Gorgon.
I stared at a dragon.
Metaphor for how she views
Fire spewed herself now
from the mouth of a mountain.
 
 Perseus is replaced by a husband, but this
could also a wider connotation for anyone who
Reflecting his feelings
has suffered betrayal
And here you come The action of the sword decapitating her

with a shield for a heart Metaphorical comparison between

Perseus and her husband
and a sword for a tongue - her husband needs metaphorical
protection against her violent love. Their
and your girls, your girls. marriage is like a battle.
Wasn’t I beautiful? Repetition – reinforces Medusa’s
fragile state of mind and regret of how
Wasn’t I fragrant and young? her life has turned out
  Use of questions show her
vulnerability and her need to cling to
the man that she directs her thoughts
to, her own ‘Greek God’

She seems suddenly human again.

 Tragic, self-pitying tone – look at what she has
become

Violent and vengeful – anyone who looks at her turns

Look at me now. to stone

Ironic – final line is loaded with ambiguity (we can’t

look at her because we will turn to stone)

Line isolated for maximum effect

A strong reminder to us all of her capabilities

 Structure
Form: The poem is a dramatic monologue from the point of view
of the jealous wife.

Structure: The narrator’s anger builds up throughout the poem as

a result of the extended metaphor of Medusa’s violent killings.

Free verse structure and use of enjambment to reinforce the

dramatic monologue form of Medusa’s fragile state of mind,
revealing the voice of a rambling unselfconscious Medusa.

The tone changes in the final stanza as the narrator seems

suddenly insecure, perhaps because she wants her husband to
choose her over the other woman.
 Language
Violent Imagery: The narrator seems to take pleasure in
imagining violence in the poem. This highlights her anger and
seems shocking because it is expressed in such an extreme,
destructive way.

Language of Vision: The ambiguous language of a young

romance and the concept of lovers staring into each other’s eyes
is contrasted with the destructive power of jealousy presented as
Medusa’s stare.

Language is a colloquial(everyday) conversational tone.

 The Final Word…

•What is your overall impression of the poem?

•Do you feel sympathy for Medusa? Why or why not?

•Do you think men go through the same feelings of

rejection when they grow older? Why or why not?
What do you think Duffy’s overall message is?