to the ground. I glanced at a singing bird, 20 a handful of dusty gravel spattered down I looked at a ginger cat, a housebrick shattered a bowl of milk. 25 I looked at a snuffling pig, a boulder rolled in a heap of shit. I stared in the mirror. Love gone bad 30 showed me a Gorgon. I stared at a dragon. Fire spewed from the mouth of a mountain. And here you come 35 with a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue and your girls, your girls. Wasn’t I beautiful Wasn’t I fragrant and young? 40 Look at me now. Medusa was one of the Gorgons and was slain by Perseus. Her hair was comprised of snakes. Her appearance was reputedly enough to turn anyone who looked at her to stone. Athena held a shield of polished bronze up so that Perseus could see the reflection of Medusa and decapitated her with his sword of adamant given to him by Hermes. He took her head away in his shoulder bag. He was pursued by her sisters, Stheno and Euryale but was rendered invisible to them by the helmet he borrowed from Hades. http://sheerpoetry.co.uk/advanced/carol-ann-duffy/notes-on-selected-poems-advanced/medusa See interview with the poet – handout Notes from Sheer Poetry - War Photographer (SFN) In his darkroom he is finally alone 1 with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows. The only light is red and softly glows, as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass. 5 Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass. He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now. Rural England. Home again
to the ground. I glanced at a singing bird, 20 a handful of dusty gravel spattered down I looked at a ginger cat, a housebrick shattered a bowl of milk. 25 I looked at a snuffling pig, a boulder rolled in a heap of shit. I stared in the mirror. Love gone bad 30 showed me a Gorgon. I stared at a dragon. Fire spewed from the mouth of a mountain. And here you come 35 with a shield for a heart and a sword for a tongue and your girls, your girls. Wasn’t I beautiful Wasn’t I fragrant and young? 40 Look at me now. Medusa was one of the Gorgons and was slain by Perseus. Her hair was comprised of snakes. Her appearance was reputedly enough to turn anyone who looked at her to stone. Athena held a shield of polished bronze up so that Perseus could see the reflection of Medusa and decapitated her with his sword of adamant given to him by Hermes. He took her head away in his shoulder bag. He was pursued by her sisters, Stheno and Euryale but was rendered invisible to them by the helmet he borrowed from Hades. http://sheerpoetry.co.uk/advanced/carol-ann-duffy/notes-on-selected-poems-advanced/medusa See interview with the poet – handout Notes from Sheer Poetry - War Photographer (SFN) In his darkroom he is finally alone 1 with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows. The only light is red and softly glows, as though this were a church and he a priest preparing to intone a Mass. 5 Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh. All flesh is grass. He has a job to do. Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now. Rural England. Home again
STUDENT-GUIDE-Duffy.docx