Mrs Midas - Duffy

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• The personification of the kitchen and the use of the adverb "gently" creates a pleasant atmosphere.
• "steamy breath" is more sensual. It could either mean literally cooking hot food, or be symbolic of passion within their home & relationship.

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• The fruit is glowing because it turned into gold.

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• Intensifies the brightness of the metaphorical lightbulb and shows Mrs Midas's surprise.

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• There's a loss of hope. "Dark" and "light" are antonymns. Repetition of the 'd' sound fits in with this idea.

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• All 3 of these words are adjectives and they portray Midas's change of emotion and personality and even mental stability.

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• Midas was eating corn on the cob, and teeth are of a similar shape to corn. So he was spitting out bits of corn he'd turned to gold - that were the shape of teeth. Only wealthy people would have golden teeth.

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• The adjective tells us Mrs Midas is nervous.

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• Alliteration of the 'g' sound, which is harsh showing she's appalled. 'G' is also a swallowing sound to convey fear, it's gluttoral.
• The triplet of words also shows a progression from an ordinary vessel to one of value.

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• Gives the feeling of routine, organisation and robotic actions.Mrs Midas is attempting to control the situation.

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• Mrs Midas is disbelieving. There's a conversational tone; she's asking the reader to agree with her. Play on words/pun with "granted" and "granted".

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• Alliteration of 't' (plosive). Almost like a tutting sound, it shows Mrs Midas's annoyance.
• It's a metaphor for the house being full of gold with the literal meaning of Tutankhamun's grave being filled with gold.
• It's also another reference to Midas being a king, or in this case a Pharoh. Gives him status or it could be mocking/sarcastic. Links to the title and the use of "king" in the 3rd stanza.

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• "unwrapping each other" - metaphor. They enjoyed each other.
• "rapidly" - adverb. There was a desperation in their lovemaking.
• "like presents" - simile. This conveys gentleness.
• However, "fast food" suggests their lovemaking lacked quality. Perhaps it was too rushed, and lacked depth. Or it could mean they craved and were hungry for each other.

Nota:

• In 8th stanza "ore" and "amber" are used, both these words come from the sematic field of gold. But this semantic field runs throughhout the poem, e.g. "honeyed" in the 7th stanza.
• The constant references to gold suggest that it's taking over their lives. It even infiltrates Mrs Midas's dreams in the 8th stanza.

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• Assonance of the 'a' sound in "sat" and "back". Probably puts across Mrs Midas's anger.

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• She's ashamed of herself or perhaps this is the reputation she recieved or feared getting.

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• The adjective "beautiful" is positive and awe-struck, but it's then followed by "mistake" which shows her regret and how Midas messed up.

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• Midas is wasting away and going mad. As shown by the chosen adjectives. Yet Mrs Midas  acts very cold and uncaring - she appears selfish for not caring about his suffering. Her irritation is shown by the short sentence.

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• The short sentence again shows how irritated Mrs Midas is about Midas. But the quote contains irony, as she may be calling him selfish for wishing for gold, but in reality she's selfish for caring more about their failed relationship than his health.
• Her self-absorbsion is shown nicely by this quote being surrounded by the words "me" and "I".

Nota:

• On one hand, the last line of the poem shows regret and makes the reader feel some sympathy. However, it again portrays Mrs Midas's self-absorbsion because she's focusing more on the parts of their relationship that benefited her.