Carol Ann Duffy published "Queen Herod" in The World's Wife, her 1999 collection of dramatic monologues that retell the stories of famous and infamous men throughout history, mythology, and literature from the perspective of their female counterparts. "Queen Herod" offers a gender-swapped version of the story of King Herod, a Judean ruler who in the Bible, infamously orders the slaughter of all of Bethlehem's male infants in an attempt to kill Jesus (whom he fears will one day usurp him). In Duffy's rendition of the tale, Queen Herod is warned by three visiting queens—an all-female version of the Bible's Magi—of the impending birth not of Christ, but of a boy who will one day threaten the happiness and independence of her beloved infant daughter. In a violent but protective response, Queen Herod commands that all her kingdom's male children be killed. Through this merciless act, the poem illustrates the brutal lengths to which a mother will go to protect her daughter from male oppression.
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The Full Text of “Queen Herod”
The Full Text of “Queen Herod”
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“Queen Herod” Summary
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“Queen Herod” Themes
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The Tender and Violent Maternal Instinct
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 18-48
- Lines 62-98
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Marriage and Patriarchal Oppression
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 7-15
- Lines 18-24
- Lines 34-39
- Lines 46-68
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Collective Feminine Power
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-30
- Lines 40-47
- Lines 58-65
- Lines 90-98
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Queen Herod”
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Lines 1-6
Ice in the ...
... to the stables; -
Lines 7-15
courteous, confident; oh, ...
... till bitter dawn. -
Lines 16-21
They were wise. ...
... my little child. -
Lines 22-24
Silver and gold, ...
... of her face. -
Lines 25-30
Grace ...
... with insolent lust. -
Lines 31-35
Watch ...
... Husband. Hero. Hunk. -
Lines 36-39
The Boy Next ...
... Ladykiller. Mr Right. -
Lines 40-48
My baby stirred, ...
... peacock screamed outside. -
Lines 49-57
Afterwards, it seemed ...
... was twelve, thirteen. -
Lines 58-65
I watched each ...
... means he's here… -
Lines 66-68
Some swaggering lad ...
... nothing, nowt in gold. -
Lines 69-74
I sent for ...
... knives, swords, cutlasses. -
Lines 75-77
Ride East from ...
... Spare not one. -
Lines 78-83
The midnight hour. ...
... at his heels. -
Lines 84-89
High up in ...
... The Boyfriend's Star. -
Lines 90-98
We do our ...
... thunder and drum.
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“Queen Herod” Symbols
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The Boy
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 31-39: “Watch / , they said, / for a star in the east— / a new star / pierced through the night like a nail. / It means he's here, alive, newborn. / Who? H / im. The Husband. Hero. Hunk. / The Boy Next Door. The Paramour. The / Je t'adore. / The Marrying Kind. Adulterer. Bigamist. / The Wolf. The Rip. The Rake. The Rat. / The Heartbreaker. The Ladykiller. Mr Right.”
- Lines 46-47: “No man / , I swore, / will make her shed one tear.”
- Lines 66-68: “Some swaggering lad to break her heart, / some wincing Prince to take her name away / and give a ring, a nothing, nowt in gold.”
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Orion
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 80-83: “Orion to the South / who knew the score, who'd seen, / not seen, then seen it all before; / the yapping Dog Star at his heels.”
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The Peacock
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 48: “A peacock screamed outside.”
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“Queen Herod” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 4: “several sweating”
- Line 5: “laden,” “long”
- Line 7: “courteous, confident”
- Line 8: “King,” “Queen,” “here,” “Herod”
- Line 9: “baths,” “beds”
- Line 16: “were wise”
- Line 18: “Herod's head”
- Line 26: “hennaed hands”
- Line 33: “night,” “nail”
- Line 34: “he's here”
- Lines 35-35: “Who? H / im.”
- Line 35: “Husband. Hero. Hunk.”
- Line 38: “Rip,” “Rake,” “Rat”
- Lines 40-41: “stirred, / suckled”
- Line 54: “spat, snatched”
- Line 55: “smoky,” “mead”
- Line 56: “maid”
- Line 59: “back,” “beast”
- Line 61: “below,” “bulk”
- Line 62: “fierce”
- Line 63: “flash,” “felt”
- Line 65: “he's here”
- Line 66: “Some swaggering”
- Line 68: “nothing, nowt”
- Line 70: “mountain man”
- Line 80: “South”
- Line 81: “score,” “seen”
- Line 82: “seen,” “seen”
- Line 87: “blatant, brazen, buoyant”
- Line 88: “blue”
- Line 89: “Boyfriend's”
- Line 93: “We wade”
- Line 97: “hooves,” “horses”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “trees”
- Line 2: “Three Queens”
- Line 4: “several sweating”
- Line 12: “be”
- Line 13: “asleep,” “me”
- Line 14: “three”
- Line 16: “wise,” “I”
- Line 18: “Once drunken,” “Herod's head went”
- Line 22: “gold”
- Line 24: “glowed,” “bowl”
- Line 35: “Husband,” “Hunk”
- Line 36: “Door,” “Paramour,” “t'adore”
- Line 43: “breast”
- Line 44: “left,” “down”
- Line 45: “mouth”
- Line 48: “peacock screamed”
- Line 49: “seemed,” “dream”
- Line 53: “clapped”
- Line 54: “spat, snatched”
- Line 55: “mead”
- Line 57: “thirteen”
- Line 58: “each,” “Queen”
- Line 59: “beast”
- Line 66: “swaggering lad”
- Line 67: “wincing Prince,” “take,” “away”
- Line 68: “give,” “ring,” “nothing”
- Line 76: “mother's son”
- Line 77: “one”
- Line 81: “score”
- Line 82: “before”
- Line 87: “blatant, brazen”
- Line 95: “eyes”
- Line 96: “lullabies”
- Line 98: “thunder,” “drum”
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Asyndeton
Where asyndeton appears in the poem:- Line 3: “dressed in furs, accented”
- Line 4: “sweating, panting beasts”
- Line 7: “courteous, confident”
- Line 8: “Herod, me”
- Lines 9-11: “sunken baths, curtained beds, / fruit, the best of meat and wine, / dancers, music, talk—”
- Lines 13-14: “save me, / those vivid three—”
- Line 16: “They were wise. Older than I.”
- Line 34: “he's here, alive, newborn.”
- Lines 35-39: “H / im. The Husband. Hero. Hunk. / The Boy Next Door. The Paramour. The / Je t'adore. / The Marrying Kind. Adulterer. Bigamist. / The Wolf. The Rip. The Rake. The Rat. / The Heartbreaker. The Ladykiller. Mr Right.”
- Lines 50-57: “The pungent camels / kneeling in the snow, / the guide's rough shout / as he clapped his leather gloves, / hawked, spat, snatched / the smoky jug of mead / from the chittering maid— / she was twelve, thirteen.”
- Lines 62-64: “I saw the fierce eyes of the black Queen / flash again, felt her urgent warnings scald / my ear.”
- Line 68: “a ring, a nothing, nowt in gold.”
- Line 74: “knives, swords, cutlasses.”
- Line 87: “blatant, brazen, buoyant in the East—”
- Lines 91-92: “we Queens, we mothers, / mothers of Queens.”
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Colloquialism
Where colloquialism appears in the poem:- Lines 35-36: “Hunk. / The Boy Next Door.”
- Line 37: “The Marrying Kind.”
- Lines 38-39: “The Wolf. The Rip. The Rake. The Rat. / The Heartbreaker. The Ladykiller. Mr Right.”
- Line 68: “nowt”
- Line 89: “Boyfriend's”
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Lines 32-33: “a new star / pierced through the night like a nail.”
- Line 49: “Afterwards, it seemed like a dream.”
- Lines 58-59: “I watched each turbaned Queen / rise like a god on the back of her beast.”
- Lines 70-72: “a mountain man / with a red scar, like a tick / to the mean stare of his eye.”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 22-24: “Silver and gold, / the loose change of herself, / glowed in the soft bowl of her face.”
- Line 28: “made a tiny starfish of my daughter's fist,”
- Lines 63-64: “felt her urgent warnings scald / my ear.”
- Line 68: “a ring, a nothing, nowt in gold.”
- Lines 78-79: “The chattering stars / shivered in a nervous sky.”
- Lines 80-83: “Orion to the South / who knew the score, who'd seen, / not seen, then seen it all before; / the yapping Dog Star at his heels.”
- Line 85: “studded, diamond W.”
- Line 95: “We have daggers for eyes.”
- Lines 96-98: “Behind our lullabies, / the hooves of terrible horses / thunder and drum.”
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Lines 50-51: “The pungent camels / kneeling in the snow,”
- Lines 78-82: “The chattering stars / shivered in a nervous sky. / Orion to the South / who knew the score, who'd seen, / not seen, then seen it all before;”
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“Queen Herod” 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.
- Laden
- Herod
- Hennaed
- Insolent
- Hunk
- Boy Next Door
- Paramour
- Je t'adore
- Adulterer
- Bigamist
- Wolf
- Rip
- Rake
- Suckled
- Pungent
- Hawked
- Mead
- Chittering
- Splayed
- Fusty
- Scald
- Swaggering
- Nowt
- Tick
- Cutlasses
- Blatant
- Buoyant
- Brazen
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(Location in poem: Line 5: “laden for a long hard trek”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Queen Herod”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Queen Herod” Speaker
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“Queen Herod” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Queen Herod”
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More “Queen Herod” Resources
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External Resources
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Who Was Herod the Great? — Learn more about Herod as a historical figure from this brief reference entry, courtesy of Britannica.
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Herod's Real-Life Wife, Mariamne — Learn more about Herod's wife Mariamne from this brief biography, courtesy of the Jewish Women's Archive.
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Carol Ann Duffy's Biography — Learn more about the poet's life and work from this short biography, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
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An Interview with the Poet — In this interview with The Guardian, Carol Ann Duffy responds to her appointment as the UK's Poet Laureate and discusses women poets' important contributions to literature.
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Herod in the Bible — Read the story of King Herod as it appears in Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Matthew.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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