"Medusa" first appeared in Carol Ann Duffy's 1999 collection The World's Wife. The poem is a dramatic monologue written in the voice of Medusa, a mythical figure with venomous snakes for hair and whose stare turns people to stone. Medusa is both terrifying and sympathetic in the poem, a woman transformed into a monster by her anger over her husband's affairs. The poem points to the destructive potential of jealousy and rage, and to the way that men use women, only to discard them when they're no longer young and beautiful.
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The Full Text of “Medusa”
The Full Text of “Medusa”
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“Medusa” Summary
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“Medusa” Themes
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The Destructive Nature of Jealousy and Rage
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-42
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Misogyny and Female Suffering
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-42
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Medusa”
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Lines 1-2
A suspicion, a ...
... in my mind, -
Lines 3-5
which turned the ...
... on my scalp. -
Lines 6-9
My bride’s breath ...
... yellow fanged. -
Lines 10-12
There are bullet ...
... Be terrified. -
Lines 13-17
It’s you I ...
... you were stone. -
Lines 18-23
I glanced at ...
... spattered down. -
Lines 24-29
I looked at ...
... heap of shit. -
Lines 30-35
I stared in ...
... of a mountain. -
Lines 36-39
And here you ...
... girls, your girls. -
Lines 40-42
Wasn’t I beautiful ...
... at me now.
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“Medusa” Symbols
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Stone
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 10: “There are bullet tears in my eyes”
- Line 17: “So better be for me if you were stone.”
- Lines 18-29: “I glanced at a buzzing bee, / a dull grey pebble fell / to the ground. / I glanced at a singing bird, / a handful of dusty gravel / spattered down. / I looked at a ginger cat, / a housebrick / shattered a bowl of milk. / I looked at a snuffling pig, / a boulder rolled / in a heap of shit.”
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Snakes
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 1-5: “A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy / grew in my mind, / which turned the hairs on my head to filthy snakes / as though my thoughts / hissed and spat on my scalp.”
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“Medusa” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Allusion
Where allusion appears in the poem:- Line 3
- Lines 8-17
- Lines 18-32
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 3: “hairs,” “head”
- Line 5: “spat,” “scalp”
- Line 6: “bride’s,” “breath,” “soured,” “stank”
- Line 7: “bags”
- Line 8: “foul,” “foul”
- Line 9: “fanged”
- Line 10: “tears”
- Line 11: “terrified”
- Line 14: “Greek,” “God”
- Line 17: “So,” “better,” “be,” “stone”
- Line 18: “glanced,” “buzzing,” “bee”
- Line 20: “ground”
- Line 21: “glanced”
- Line 22: “dusty”
- Line 23: “down”
- Line 35: “mouth,” “mountain”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “suspicion,” “jealousy”
- Line 3: “hairs,” “head,” “snakes”
- Line 4: “thoughts”
- Line 5: “hissed,” “spat,” “scalp”
- Line 6: “bride’s,” “breath,” “soured,” “stank”
- Line 7: “grey,” “bags,” “lungs”
- Line 8: “foul,” “foul,” “tongued”
- Line 9: “yellow,” “fanged”
- Line 10: “bullet,” “tears”
- Line 11: “terrified”
- Line 14: “perfect,” “Greek,” “God”
- Line 15: “betray,” “stray”
- Line 17: “So,” “better,” “be,” “stone”
- Line 18: “glanced,” “buzzing,” “bee”
- Line 19: “dull,” “grey”
- Line 20: “ground”
- Line 21: “glanced,” “singing,” “bird”
- Line 22: “handful,” “dusty,” “gravel”
- Line 23: “spattered,” “down”
- Line 24: “looked,” “cat”
- Line 25: “housebrick”
- Line 26: “bowl,” “milk”
- Line 27: “looked”
- Line 28: “boulder,” “rolled”
- Line 31: “gone”
- Line 32: “Gorgon”
- Line 33: “stared,” “dragon”
- Line 34: “spewed”
- Line 35: “mouth,” “mountain”
- Line 39: “girls,” “girls”
- Line 41: “fragrant”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 2: “my,” “mind”
- Line 7: “grey,” “lungs”
- Line 8: “foul mouthed now, foul,” “tongued”
- Line 10: “my,” “eyes”
- Line 11: “terrified”
- Line 12: “terrified”
- Line 14: “own”
- Line 15: “go,” “betray,” “stray”
- Line 16: “home”
- Line 17: “be,” “me,” “stone”
- Line 19: “pebble fell”
- Line 20: “ground”
- Line 23: “down”
- Line 27: “snuffling,” “pig”
- Line 28: “boulder,” “rolled”
- Line 29: “in,” “shit”
- Line 32: “Gorgon”
- Line 33: “dragon”
- Line 35: “mouth,” “mountain”
- Line 38: “tongue”
- Line 41: “young”
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Asyndeton
Where asyndeton appears in the poem:- Line 1: “A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy”
- Line 6: “soured, stank”
- Lines 8-9: “I’m foul mouthed now, foul tongued, / yellow fanged.”
- Line 14: “perfect man, Greek God, my own;”
- Lines 15-16: “but I know you’ll go, betray me, stray / from home.”
- Lines 18-23: “I glanced at a buzzing bee, / a dull grey pebble fell / to the ground. / I glanced at a singing bird, / a handful of dusty gravel / spattered down.”
- Lines 24-29: “I looked at a ginger cat, / a housebrick / shattered a bowl of milk. / I looked at a snuffling pig, / a boulder rolled / in a heap of shit.”
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Parallelism
Where parallelism appears in the poem:- Line 1
- Lines 8-9
- Line 14
- Lines 15-16
- Lines 18-23
- Lines 24-29
- Line 30
- Line 33
- Line 36
- Lines 37-39
- Lines 40-41
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “A suspicion, a doubt, a jealousy”
- Line 8: “foul mouthed,” “foul tongued”
- Line 11: “Are you terrified?”
- Line 12: “Be terrified.”
- Line 18: “I glanced at a buzzing bee,”
- Line 19: “a dull grey pebble”
- Line 21: “I glanced at a singing bird,”
- Line 22: “a handful of dusty gravel”
- Line 24: “I looked at a ginger cat,”
- Line 25: “a housebrick”
- Line 27: “I looked at a snuffling pig,”
- Line 28: “a boulder”
- Line 30: “I stared in the mirror.”
- Line 33: “I stared at a dragon.”
- Line 37: “a shield for a heart”
- Line 38: “a sword for a tongue”
- Line 39: “your girls, your girls”
- Line 40: “Wasn’t I”
- Line 41: “Wasn’t I”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 3-5
- Line 7
- Lines 8-10
- Line 14
- Lines 18-35
- Lines 37-38
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Lines 3-5
- Lines 6-10
- Lines 18-39
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Rhetorical Question
Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:- Line 11: “Are you terrified?”
- Lines 40-41: “Wasn’t I beautiful / Wasn’t I fragrant and young?”
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“Medusa” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Greek God
- Gorgon
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(Location in poem: Lines 13-14: “It’s you I love, / perfect man, Greek God, my own;”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Medusa”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Medusa” Speaker
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“Medusa” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Medusa”
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More “Medusa” Resources
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External Resources
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Another Poem From "The World's Wife" — Listen to Duffy herself as she reads and discusses another poem from "The World's Wife." This one comes from the perspective of another mythological character: the wife of King Midas.
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A Short Biography of Duffy — Read a brief introduction to Carol Ann Duffy from the Poetry Foundation.
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Images of Medusa — Take a look at the many different ways Medusa has been portrayed throughout history.
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Feminist Retellings In ‘The World’s Wife’ — Read an essay on the subversive poetry collection that "Medusa" comes from.
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A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read aloud.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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