Higher English - "Mrs Midas" Quotes

Themes of "Mrs Midas"

Greed, actions and their consequences, marriage, solitude and isolation

Stanza one:

"It was late September"
"its steamy breath gently blanched the windows"
"wiped the other's glass like a brow"
"snapping a twig"

Stanza two:

"the ground seemed to drink the light of the sky, but that twig in his band was gold"
"he plucked a pear from a branch"
"it sat in his palm, like a lightbulb. On."
"Is he putting fairy lights on the tree?"

Stanza three:

"He cam into the house. The doorknobs gleamed. He drew the blinds."
"I thought of the Field of the Cloth of Gold and of Miss Macready"
"He sat in that chair like a king on a burnished throne"
"The look on his face was strange, wild, vain"
"He started to laugh"

Stanza four:

"spitting out teeth of the rich"
"he toyed with his spoon"
"He asked where was the wine."
"he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank."

Stanza five:

"It was then that I started to scream. He sank to his knees"
"I locked the cat in the cellar. I moved the phone. The toilet I didn't mind."

Stanza six:

"Look we all have wishes; granted. But who has wishes granted?"
"It feeds no one"
"At least, I said, you'll be able to give up smoking for good."

Stanza seven:

"Separate beds."
"near petrified"
"turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamen"
"Halcyon days"
"Unwrapping each other, rapidly, like presents"
"But now I feared his honeyed embrace"

Stanza eight:

"And who, when it comes to the crunch, can live with a heart of gold?"
"perfect ore limbs"
"amber eyes holding their pupils lie flies"

Stanza nine:

"He sat in the back"
"the women who married the fool"
"parking the car a good way off"

Stanza ten:

"a beautiful lemon mistake"
"He was thin, delirious; hearing, he said, the music of Pan"

Stanza eleven:

"What gets me now is not the idiocy or greed but the lack of thought for me. Pure selfishness."
"I think of him in certain lights"
"even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch."

"It's steamy breath blanched the windows"

"Wiped the other's glass like a brow"

Personification: making the house seem alive reflects how Midas is capable of killing - he was capable of killing things that didn't as first seem like things that could be killed, EG their marriage
Simile: "like a brow" is a tender image describing the intimacy that she will later loose

"snapping a twig"

Word choice/onomatopoeia: "snapping" suggests damage

"the ground seemed to drink the light of the sky"

Personification: destruction/loss of something Midas can no longer do

"he plucked a pear"

"It sat in his palm like a lightbulb. On."

Word choice: "plucked" suggests he took/stole/removed the pear from somewhere it belonged
Simile: "like a lightbulb" conveys the shape of the pear and also the brightness of the gold
Short sentence: "On." conveys the shock and dawning of awareness of Mrs Midas

"Is he putting fairy lights in the tree?"

Rhetorical question: humour contrasts with her recent shock

"He came into the house. Doorknobs gleamed. He drew the blinds."

Short sentences: length of sentences conveys her sock of the situation

"I thought of the Field of the Cloth of Gold and Miss Macready"

"Miss Macready" subtly links back to her childhood

"like a king on a burnished thrown"

Simile: "like a king" conveys this initial idea that Midas is like royalty because he can turn things to gold

"the look on his face was strange, wild, vain"

"He started to laugh"

Word choice: confusing and intense emotions are displayed on his face - he feels tremendous power, motivated by greed. "Wild" suggests he is out of control
his reaction to his wife concern is arrogant and patronising

"He was spitting out teeth of the rich"

Metaphor: demonstrated the negative effects of his gift as he can no longer enjoy his meals. Something that was once valuable to his is burdensome.
Word choice: "spitting" suggests disgust and rudeness

"He toyed with his spoon"

"where was the wine"

Word choice: "toyed" has childish connotations that convey Midas' simple and childlike thought processes
he sounds rude like a child or a king talking to his servants

"he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank."

There is transition between a mundane glass to an extravagant and ridiculous chalice
Metaphor: he is also changing as well

"It was then that I stared t scream. He sank to his knees."

Word choice: "scream" suggests an abrupt and horrified reaction where as "sank" suggest a slower more painful realisation

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

Short sentences: shows the speed at which she acts and her though process which is more mature and considerate than her husband's
"The toilet I don't mind" is a quick humorous statement before a change of tone in the poem

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

Word choice: "granted" is a pun

"It feeds no one"

She exposes the inherent lack of real value of gold

"Separate beds."

Short sentence: conveys the abrupt and percent change made to their sleeping arrangements. It summaries the entire impact of Midas' wish on both their physical and emotional distance

"turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun"

Metaphor: comparing her husbands bedroom to a tomb foreshadows the inevitable death of Midas caused by his ability to turn everything into gold

"halcyon days"

"unwrapping each other, rapidly, like presents"

Word choice: "halcyon" suggests light and happiness
Simile: "like presents" still reflects her Husbands materialistic tendencies

"And who, when its comes to the crunch, can live with a heart of gold?"

"heart of gold" usually has positive connotations of kindness and empathy but in this context it conveys her husband's lack of empathy and selfishness. The literal meaning of the statement would mean death

"perfect ore limbs"
"amber eyes holding their pupils like flies"

generally positive imagery that overall creates a disturbing image of a half gold baby

"He sat in the back"

Word choice: suggests their physical separation but also Midas' child like tendencies as children often sit in the back

"parking the car a good way off'

Word choice: "good" suggest their separation is a positive thing

"a beautiful lemon mistake"

Metaphor: "lemon mistake" even though it's beautiful, it was a horrible mistake

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

Word choice: "thin" and "delirious" contrast with the royal and luxurious imagery used previously

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

Word choice: she still acknowledges the stupidity of her husbands actions
Sort sentence: "Pure selfishness." emphasises the only motivation behinds her husband's wish and the lack of empathy he had for her