Greek mythological poem Essay

Subject: the poem is a Greek mythological poem about King Midas of Phrygia who had his wish granted everything he touches turns into gold. The poem is about the consequences of choosing money and greed which is presented to the readers through the wife’s perspective. Duffy presents a wide range of emotions through Mrs. Midas’s persona. Mrs. Midas complains about his husband’s selfishness and greed. Duffy gives a voice to women unheard in history. Duffy takes a historical character and translates them into present day. â€Å"Mrs. Midas† turns the noble king Phrygia into a pathetic greed middle-aged man.  The mood changes as the poem proceeds, reaching its peak of fear in the fifth to eleventh stanza then calmly comes down as Midas draws close to death. The language the character uses informs the reader about the mood of the poem. In the second and third of the first stanza Midas uses personified the kitchen as â€Å"its steamy breath gently blanching the windows†. This sets the calm relaxing atmosphere of the poem before the crisis. The poem is calm because Mrs. Midas uses smoothly and well-skilled sentences. The intonation changes suddenly, the sentences become short and factual lexis is used. For example in the fifth stanza Mr. Midas said â€Å"I moved the phone†. Mrs. Midas does this to make the situation seem more urgent chaotic and panicky. Short sentences are used in this poem to speed p the narration as the chaos happens in the poem. After the crisis is over, she reverts to her earlier relaxing mood. For example she said in last stanza Mrs. Midas said â€Å"I miss most, even now, his warm hands on my skin, his touch†. The language of the poem used by Mrs. Midas is elevated register. She uses descriptive lexis in the poem. This will be described further in the analysis.  The poem is a universal, therefore everyone can read it. The poem is moral lesson. For example in the sixth stanza Mrs. Midas said â€Å"it feeds no one† talking about gold. The moral lesson Duffy tries to teach us is money is a means to an end not an end, meaning money can be used to pay food to feed a person but it can’t physically feed a person. Money is not a solution to everything as she addresses the middle class who adore money. The class backgrounds of the characters are middle-classes as they drink Italian â€Å"wine†. Wealth is trivial if not used to solve problems like in this poem. Mrs. Midas uses adverbs such â€Å"gently† to emphasis how calm and relaxed she was before the crisis.  In the first stanza Mrs. Midas uses personification, for instance she said â€Å"the ground seems to drink the light of the sky†. The dynamic verb â€Å"drink† personifies the ground as a human. The quote means the day changes to night. Mrs. Midas uses symbolism in the poem; â€Å"rich† symbolizes gold referring to Midas having to spit out the golden corn out of his mouth. Another symbolism used in the poem is â€Å"work of art† which symbolizes a statue which her husband would turn her into like he touches her. What is Liberal Democracy? Liberal Democracy is an indirect and representative form of democracy whereby the right to rule is gained through success in competitive elections on the basis of political equality. In a liberal Democratic state the people are protected by individual rights such as the civil rights in America and a constitutional government which based on rules set out in a codified constitution like in the US constitution.  Mrs. Midas uses metaphors through out the poem. For example, Mrs. Midas said â€Å"turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun†. Her husband is turning his room into gold, mythological compared to the Egyptian pharaohs’ tombs which were dressed with gold. What is Democracy?  Democracy is rule by the people. This is reflected in the idea of government by the people therefore key political decisions are made by the people. Democracy reflects the idea of equal citizenship whereby each citizen has the right to influence political decisions. For example, in February 2003 one and a half million citizens took to the streets of London. They are protesting against UK’s involvement in the Iraq war. This reflects ‘people power’ to influence political decisions. England is an example of a democratic state while North Korea is an example of an undemocratic state. Duffy uses a simile to make an internal rhyme â€Å"its amber eyes /holding their pupils like flies†. This intensifies the interior personal life of the woman. Another internal rhyme â€Å"dream/streaming† is used to suggest that she will have a solitary life.  Duffy uses repetition in the poem. For example in the sixth stanza Mrs. Midas said â€Å"have wishes; granted. But who has wished granted? Duffy uses clever wordplay the first phrase is used as to notice that Midas has his wish â€Å"granted† and the second is turned into a question by using the past verb â€Å"granted†. Duffy does this to achieve a verbal humour. Define Representative democracy  Representative democracy is a limited and indirect form of democracy whereby the representatives act and speak on behalf of the people. The representatives can be chosen and removed by the public through elections. In a representative democratic state popular participation in government is limited and indirect to the act of voting very few years for a representative to represent them. There are uses of rhetoric in the poem. For example in the last stanza Mrs. Midas uses a repair â€Å"his hands, his warm hands†. Duffy uses repair to make Mrs. Midas’ character seem more realistic.  The poem is made up of eleven sestet stanzas. Most of the stanza are arranged perfectly to form a stanza. However in the in the fifth stanza the lines are merely joined together to make a stanza they are separated.