Contextual stuff

In Greek mythology, King Midas performed a service for the god Bacchus and in return was granted a wish; Midas wished for everything he touched to be turned to gold. Though Midas initially enjoyed this ability, when he discovered that his food and drink also turned to gold he realised his mistake in wishing for riches above all things. Starving and deranged, Midas was forced to wander alone, searching for a cure.

In modern times, the phrase 'Midas touch' is often applied within the media to entrepreneurs who seem to have the ability to make unprofitable companies or a range of companies, yield significant profits.

Themes

Marriage, materialism, selfishness, break-up of a relationship, need.

Language/imagery

The poem begins in 'late September', a time when the colour gold begins to appear naturally and when the harvest is brought in but, less positively, it is also a time when things come to an end. In the Midas household this period will signal the end of their relationship but there is a contrast between the natural processes of the autumn and the unnatural events surrounding Midas.

The description of Mrs Midas at home is replete with mundane domestic imagery: 'while the vegetables cooked' but there is a sense of comfort and satisfaction in these lines that comes from the enjambement and half rhymes 'wine' and 'unwind'. The use of the verb 'blanching', usually applied to vegetables, to describe the personification of the kitchen's 'steamy breath' is both a visually appealing description of the steamed windows and an illustration of the harmonious relationship between Mrs Midas and her environment. The final line of the first stanza shatters this mood. Not only it is end-stopped but the final verb phrase 'snapping a twig' carries connotations of violence, while the phonological effects of the harsh consonance, the plosives and the assonance of the short 'i' sound is jarring.

The description of the garden and the way that the 'ground seems to drink the light of the sky' is perhaps ominous and the gold twig in his hand stands out with unnatural force in the gloom. The Midases grow a particular variety of pear, the 'Fondante d'Automne', French for 'melting autumn', a fact which may strike some readers as a satirical dig at the pretensions of the middle classes who grow imported fruits, drink Italian wine and wish for material gains. Duffy deliberately delays the moment of realisation for Mrs Midas for both comic effect, as when the pear sits in his palm 'like a light bulb', but also to evoke pathos for her as when she asks herself 'Is he putting fairy lights in the tree?'

Midas' return to the house is depicted in a string of short, simple sentences: 'You know the mind'. The use of direct address is conversational, almost confessional; Mrs Midas does not openly accuse her husband of being secretive and miserly, but implies it.

Instead Duffy emplys a series of allusions to show how Mrs Midas relates to her husband. The first, the Field of the Cloth of Gold, is a reference to the historic meeting between King Henry VIII and King Francis I of France during which the two men tried to outdo each other in their displays of wealth. The second allusion is to Miss Macready, the housekeeper in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe who is more interested in showing off the house to visitors than supervising the children in her care. The phrase 'like a king on a burnished throne' is an illusion to Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra in which a character speaks of Cleopatra: 'the barge she sat in like a burnish'd throne'. T.S. Eliot in his poem, 'The Waste Land' opens the second section of the poem with the following allusion to Shakespeare's depiction of Cleopatra: 'the Chair she sat in like a burnished throne' and follows it with a description of wealth and luxury. Thus, each of these intertextual references suggests that Midas is preoccupied with wealth. The tripling of adjectives 'strange, wild, vain' shows how he appears to her now though she doesn't know what's happened. As in the previous stanza, in the last line she questions him; the question is both blasphemous and anachronistic but fits the context of a startled housewife: 'What in the name of God is going on?' In contrast, his response is inappropriate, emphasised by the short, abrupt sentence and end-stop: 'he started to laugh.'

In the fourth stanza we see that the couple observe traditional gender roles: 'I served up the meal' and Midas' question 'where was the wine' reveals his expectations of the meal and of his wife. The choice of corn on the cob is anachronistic but visually fitting, as its natural golden hue becomes the gold 'teeth of the rich' which Midas must spit out.

Rather than eating, Midas toys with the cutlery, introducing an important theme in this poem, the gap between ambition and need; Midas desires riches but needs to eat, his ambition will cause him to starve. Mrs Midas pours the 'bone-dry' wine 'with a shaking hand' reflecting her mounting fear. The moment of realisation is captured in the transformation of the 'glass' to 'goblet' to 'golden chalice' and the harsh consonance of the 'g' sound, reflects the impact of the transformation. The term 'chalice' has religious connotations due to its use in the Holy Communion meal which commemorates the Last Supper; furthermore the expression 'a poisoned chalice' is a Shakespearean quotation which has entered the English language to mean an opportunity which seems promising but is found to be have hidden drawbacks. Both interpretations are relevant here as the Midases are eating their last meal together and Midas will soon realise that his miraculous gift will carry a hidden price.

Mrs Midas' reaction is one of fear but there is also humour in her responses such as the protectiveness towards the pet, 'I locked the cat in the cellar'. Also Mrs Midas' admission that 'the toilet I didn't mind' is perhaps a comical reference to the traditional slang term for the toilet, 'the throne'. That Mrs Midas makes her husband sit 'on the other side of the room' illustrates that the effect of his gift to separate them and to cause a rift in their marriage.

The use of word play in the lines 'we all have wishes; granted. But who has wishes granted?' and monosyllabic minor sentence which answers her rhetorical question 'Him' conveys his disgust with her husband; his wife acknowledges that everyone has the right to have wishes, granted but to have wishes granted seems to offend her. However, it is Midas' wish for gold that is outrageous; she asks another rhetorical question and answers 'it feeds no one and slakes no thirst.' The gustatory imagery here is juxtaposed with that in the description of their love life in the following stanza, thus highlighting what they have lost.

Although Midas' wife is aware of the limitations of gold, she too recognises its aesthetic qualities; the tripling of adjectives 'aurum, soft, untarnishable,' with its soft consonants and elongated vowels creates a euphonic tone and she is 'entranced' by the 'luteous stem' of his gold cigarette. Nevertheless, she responds with sardonic practicality: 'you'll be able to give up smoking for good'.

The full impact of Midas' transformation is revealed in stages. Firstly, the couple must sleep in 'separate beds', and then it transpires, on separate floors, 'he was below', indicating the widening gulf between them. Although there is still humour in the use of internal rhyme: 'turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun', the imagery now carries connotations of death.

The speaker contrasts the present reality of cold distance between the couple with the 'halcyon days' when they unwrapped one another 'like presents, fast food'; the gustatory imagery highlights the sensual pleasures of this honeymoon period. 'Halcyon days' is a classical allusion, denoting a mythological time in the middle of winter when the weather is calm; although the term is used to represent an idyllic period it also, by definition, foreshadows the return of winter as the halcyon period lasts only for seven days. This is evident in the next line 'now I fear his honeyed embrace' and the kiss that would 'turn my lips into a work of art'. The latter may be an allusion to another poem in the collection, Pygmalion's Bride.

Perhaps the most poignant image in this poem is that of the dream child, which, with its 'perfect ore limbs' is a representation of physical beauty, 'precious' to its mother but its 'amber eyes holding their pupils like flies' are a symbol of lifelessness. Similarly the 'heart of gold', though used as a proverbial expression to denote virtue and charity, cannot sustain life. The speaker's longing for a child is encapsulated in the line: 'my dream-milk burned in my breasts', and it is perhaps this image of thwarted maternal love that reveals the true cost of Midas' greed.

Mrs Midas' embarrassment at her husband's behaviour is shown by the fact that she drives him away 'under cover of dark' and parks the car 'a good way off'. She also describe herself using the third person as 'the woman who married the fool who wished for gold', reflecting the derision and mockery of gossipmongers.

Despite the separation, she visits her husband, tracing his presence in the woods through 'golden trout' and 'a beautiful lemon mistake', these images are the legacy he leaves behind him rather than the perfect child she longed for. Unable to slake his appetite or his thirst, Midas is driven 'delirous' and hears the 'music of Pan'; Pan, the god of mischief, is traditionally associated with poetry and is also a reference to the classical tales of Midas as in one such tale, Midas admitted to preferring the music of Pan to that of Apollo and so, as a punishment, Apollo gave him the ears of an ass, to reflect his lack of taste and discernment. In Duffy's poem, Midas' instruction to 'Listen' for the music of Pan proves to be the 'last straw'.

The final stanza is one of reflection. Mrs Midas comments on her husband's 'selfishness' and the stanza resonates with a sense of loss and grief. She says

certain lights, dawn, late afternoon,

bowl of apples stopped me dead

end focus on 'his touch' - sums up everything she's lost.

Structure

 

The structure is regular, and the majo

sed diamaccusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam eaquep. Store veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo.

Modern fiction series set in classical antiquity

 

Links to other poems

Pygmalion's Bride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"