Contextual stuff

In Greek mythology Demeter is the goddess of the Earth. Her daughter Persephone was stolen by Hades and taken down to hte underworld as his bride. Demeter complained to Zeus (check) and Hades agreed to release Persephone on the condition that she had not eaten the food of the underworld. When it was discovered that Persephone had eaten the six seeds of the pomegranate, Hades insisted that she must remain underground for six months of every year. From that time, Hades would taken Persephone underground each autumn and Demeter would go into mourning, letting the trees and plants die; when Hades returned Persephone in the spring, Demeter would rejoice and the earth would be reborn.

Theme

Motherhood, despair, grief, home and belonging, hope, rebirth

Language/imagery

The poem is set in winter; Demeter describes it as 'where I lived', showing that winter, for her, is not only a time but also a place, perhaps one where she is trapped in the 'hard earth'. The awkward syntax along with the use of caesuras makes the first six lines of the poem stilted, reflecting Demeter's stagnation. The monosyllabic words and the elongated vowels of 'hard', 'cold stone room' emphasise her grief as she sits 'choosing tough words'. Demeter's role here may be analogous to that of the poet but the results, 'granite, flint' are hard and unyielding.

Duffy's use of phonological devices conveys Demeter's pain and despair through the harsh consonance of 'break', 'broken', and 'skimmed', while the metaphor of her broken heart skimming across a frozen lake, captures her emotional state – she has been left numb and cold. The fricatives of the end stopped line reinforce her despair: 'flat, over the frozen lake'.

The turning point, or volta, occurs in the third stanza which marks Persephone's return from a 'long, long way', the repetition symbolising time as well as distance. Seven lines pass before Demeter sees Persephone, 'walking'; the present participle verb dramatises the moment of her return and it is significant that it occurs on the eighth line, perhaps reflecting how Demeter, in Ovid's myth, was forced to spend half of the year without her daughter. Demeter's joy at the impending reunion is reflected in the repetition of 'my daughter, my girl', the possessive 'my' highlighting the mother's pride and satisfaction.

Persephone herself is presented through childlike imagery perhaps mirroring how her mother views her–the 'bare feet' highlighting her vulnerability. However, she brings 'all spring's flowers', symbols of fertility, as she returns 'to her mother's house', an event that depicts the restoration of matriarchal order. Demeter's response is illustrated through the pathetic fallacy as 'the air softened and warmed as she moved'. The verbs 'softened and warmed' apply to both Demeter and the environment; this is both a figurative literary technique and an allusion to the classical source in which it is Demeter's changing emotions which influence the seasons.

The final rhyming couplet also employs the pathetic fallacy but here Duffy goes so far as to personify the external environment: 'the blue sky smiling' reflects Demeter's joy and jubilation which comes, like her daughter and the spring, 'none too soon'. The final image within the collection, 'the small shy mouth of a new moon' is one of hope; 'the small shy mouth' may represent Persephone, restored to maidenhood and innocence while the 'new moon' symbolises a new beginning and the possibility of rebirth and renewal: despite the ordeals of the past winter, both mother and daughter can start over, an optimistic conclusion to the poem and to the collection.

Structure

 

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Little Red Cap", "Thetis", "Queen Herod", "Mrs. Midas", "from Mrs. Tiresias", "Pilate's Wife", "Mrs. Aesop", "Mrs. Darwin", "Mrs. Sisyphus", "Mrs. Faust", "Delilah", "Anne Hathaway", "Queen Kong", "Mrs. Quasimodo", "Medusa", "The Devil's Wife", "Circe", "Mrs. Lazarus", "Pygmalion's Bride", "Mrs. Rip Van Winkle", "Mrs. Icarus", "Frau Freud", "Salome", "Eurydice", "The Kray Sisters", "Elvis's Twin Sister", "Pope Joan", "Penelope", "Mrs. Beast", "Demeter"