Scottish poet and playwright Carol Ann Duffy first published "Mrs Icarus" in her 1999 collection The World's Wife, a book of dramatic monologues told from the perspective of the wives, girlfriends, and female family members of famous fictional and historical men. This poem alludes to the ancient Greek myth in which a rash young man named Icarus, flying with wax wings, gets too close to the sun and tumbles to an untimely death. This poem introduces a new character to the story: Mrs. Icarus, Icarus's long-suffering wife. Imagining the scene of Icarus's fall from Mrs. Icarus's perspective, this short, quippy poem takes a sly look at male pride—and at how often men ignore female common sense.

• Read the full text of “Mrs Icarus”

• “Mrs Icarus” Summary

• “Mrs Icarus” Themes

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    Foolish Male Pride

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-5

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mrs Icarus”

  • Lines 1-3

    I'm not the ...
    ... man she married

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-5

    prove to the ...
    ... Grade A pillock.

    

    

    

    

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• “Mrs Icarus” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-5

  • Colloquialism

    

    

    

    

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    Where colloquialism appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “he's a total, utter, absolute, Grade A pillock”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “last / to”
    • Lines 2-3: “hillock / watching”
    • Lines 3-4: “married / prove”
    • Lines 4-5: “world / he's”

• “Mrs Icarus” 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.

  • Icarus
  • Hillock
  • Pillock
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mrs Icarus”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Mrs Icarus” Speaker

• “Mrs Icarus” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Mrs Icarus”

• More “Mrs Icarus” Resources

  • External Resources

    • More on Duffy — Learn more about Carol Ann Duffy's life and work in the Poetry Foundation's short biography.

    • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem by actor Helena Bonham Carter.

    • On the Myth of Icarus — Read more about the ill-fated Icarus (and his father Daedalus). 

    • An Interview with Duffy — Read a newspaper interview in which Carol Ann Duffy discusses The World's Wife shortly after its publication.

    • A Review of The World's Wife — Author Jeanette Winterson reviews Duffy's fifth collection of poetry, in which "Mrs Icarus" appeared.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Circe

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Darwin

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Pope Joan

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Quickdraw

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • The Good Teachers

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work

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