Mrs Sisyphus (Carol Ann Duffy) - Poetry Analysis

Mrs Sisyphus - Carol Ann Duffy

That's him pushing the stone up the hill, the jerk.

I call it a stone - it's nearer the size of a kirk.

When he first started out, it just used to irk,

but now it incenses me, and him, the absolute berk.

I could do something vicious to him with a dirk.

Think of the perks, he says.

What use is a perk, I shriek,

when you haven't time to pop open a cork

or go for so much as a walk in the park?

He's a dork.

Folk flock from miles around just to gawk.

They think it's a quirk,

a bit of a lark.

A load of old bollocks is nearer the mark.

He might as well bark

at the moon -

that's feckin' stone's no sooner up

then it's rolling back

all the way down.

And what does he say?

Mustn't shirk -

keen as a hawk,

lean as a shark

Mustn't shirk!

But I lie alone in the dark,

feeling like Noah's wife did

when he hammered away at the Ark;

like Frau Johann Sebastian Bach. 

My voice reduced to a squawk,

my smile to a twisted smirk;

while, up on the deepening murk of the hill,

he is giving one hundred per cent and more to his work.

Context
-By Carol Ann Duffy, a feminist poet
-First female poet Laureate, from 2009 to present day. She was apparently wary of the position, but took it up because no female poet had before.

-Part of collection ‘The world’s wife’ - The World's Wife is a collection of poems that discuss themes such as sexism, equality, bereavement and birth. The World's Wife look at important events in history from a female perspective and in a controversial way. Published 1999.

The Story Behind Sisyphus-Sisyphus, King of Ephyra (Corinth), worked out a way to cheat death. Before dying, he asked his wife to throw his naked corpse into the middle of a public square: a great dishonour to any high-status Greek, who would demand the proper burial rights. This was supposedly a test of his wife's love for him - ironic then that this poem features a nagging wife.

-Sisyphus ended up on the shores of the river Stix. Complaining to Persephone that his wife had disrespected him in death, we persuaded her to allow him to return to the living to ensure he was given his proper burial rights.

-As soon as he returns, he scolds his wife for not burying his body.

-Sisyphus refuses to return to the underworld, and for a while, it seems that he has cheated death.

-Eventually, Hermes forcibly drags Sisyphus back to the underworld , where he is sentenced to his never-ending challenge to push the stone up the hill.

Identity of Women

-Title of Mrs Sisyphus links to feminism – her name does not even feature, and instead takes the name of her husband, showing her insignificance. Broken down, the name ‘Mrs Sisyphus’ merely means wife of Sisyphus.

Interpretation: -Property of Sisyphus

-Being a wife is her primary role in life – she takes the identity of her husband. She doesn’t have an identity outside of this.

Power Struggles with regard to gender

-Power struggles within the poem – The poem has a focus upon Sisyphus, and the title indicates that she is lacking in power. However, the man speaks only through Mrs Sisyphus (who is the primary, and only voice within the poem), showing she has power over him.
-Humorous because the poem plays off anger in a laid back manner. Diverts anger with colloquial language (linking back Duffy’s Scottish heritage) – ‘kirk’, ‘irk’, ‘berk’, ‘dirk’. Use of plosives mean that it is not easy to read, making the style awkward and broken.

-‘I could do something vicious to him with a dirk’ – the vague nature of the statement shows that she is bluffing, so is again deflecting her anger. The exaggerated violence of it is humorous.

Stereotypes of the nuclear family

-‘Think of the perks, he says.

What use is a perk, I shriek,

when you haven’t the time to pop open a cork
or go for so much as a walk in the park?’-

Interpretations: -caesura creates free-flowing speaking style, giving the impression of conversation. This is helped by the alliteration of the ‘p’ sounds, linking the lines together and creating more coherence. However, matched with the short clauses of ‘think of the perks’, it retains a feeling of irritation.       

-‘pop open a cork’ or ‘walk in the park’ – shows that the husband is not there for special occasions, eg weddings or birthdays, or on an everyday basis – though each are as important as each other.                    

-Perks is a modern word, and contrasts with the classical tale, creating bathos. As we would normally use it in terms of employment, it gives the poem a relatable modern context.

-‘Folk flock from miles around’ – use of frigitives make the phrase sound harsh, adding to the sense of frustration. Narratively, it gives the idea that the wife has a focus on presentation, and how the world sees the family.
-‘Mustn’t shirk

Keen as a hawk,

lean as a shark,

Mustn’t shirk’ –

Interpretations: -mirror company slogans, and to the corporate theme of the poem. This extends the mockery of the husband to the mockery of capitalist society. -Use of Panalepsis and Ischolen. 

-‘Feeling like Noah’s wife did

when he hammered away at the ark’ – does this link to an affair? Bawdy humour? – especially since it is followed by ‘like Frau Johann Sebastian Bach’, whose husband had a series of affairs.

-‘He is giving one hundred per cent and more to his work’ – the poem ends on a cliché, perhaps showing that it is the wife in the wrong. This makes the reader perhaps doubt the woman’s intelligence, though there is little reason for them to judge her. Duffy makes the reader question their own views on women in doing so.