Mrs Midas Literary Elements

The speaker of this poem is the titular character, Mrs Midas, who observes her husband becoming ruined by his selfish and greedy wish. The poem is told in the first person.

The poem is a dramatic monologue made up of 11 sestets. It is written in free verse with no set meter.

Metaphors
"dark of the ground seems to drink the light of the sky" (Line 8)
"the teeth of the rich" (Line 20)
"unwrapping each other, rapidly, / like presents, fast food" (Lines 39-40)
"the kiss that would turn my lips to a work of art." (Line 42)
"its perfect ore limbs" (Line 45)
"One day, a hare hung from a larch, / a beautiful lemon mistake." (Lines 56-57)

Similes
"and it sat in his palm, like a lightbulb" (Line 11)
"like a king on a burnished throne" (Line 16)
"turning the spare room / into the tomb of Tutankhamun" (Line 38)
"its little tongue / like a precious latch" (Lines 44-45)
"its amber eyes / holding their pupils like flies." (Lines 45-46)

"glass, goblet, golden chalice" (Line 24)
"streaming sun" (Line 48)
"hair hung" (Line 56)

Midas wished for everything he touched to turn to gold in order to gain a fortune, but he ends up bringing more misfortunes, indeed total disaster, into his life. He turns household objects into golden trinkets but cannot even consume any food or drink, for they turn to gold too.

The final stanza deepens this irony, when Midas cannot profit from the gold, but instead has to live in the forest to prevent himself from harming others through his touch. He hallucinates the music of Pan, who is the god of the wilderness, ironically demonstrating his separation from society, when his wish was only useful for monetary gain in society.

Dramatic monologue

Though the poem alludes to the myth from ancient Greece, it is set in a contemporary context. The couple’s home is portrayed as an upper-middle class house with a garden. The second location is the woods where Midas lives in caravan, and lastly the unidentified location to which Mrs Midas later relocates.

The poem oscillates between a comical and somber tone.

The protagonist of the poem is Mrs Midas, and the antagonist is her husband, (Mr) Midas.

The conflict in the poem is the selfish and life-altering wish bringing hard luck to the household as Mr Midas’s health deteriorates and he must isolate completely. There is both an interior conflict as Mrs Midas must decide how to respond, and an external conflict between Mrs Midas and Mr Midas as they fight about the consequences of his fateful wish.

The climax occurs at Line 30, the first line of the fifth stanza: "It was then that I started to scream." This line indicates that Mrs Midas has realized the effects of her husband's wish and that their relationship is destroyed. The poem has a comical tone at first until Mrs Midas realizes that the husband’s life is doomed, and hers threatened. She is terrified at the grave consequences of this "gift" and barricades the bedroom door for the night.

Mrs Midas states that the spare room is turned into an ancient tomb, which foreshadows her husband’s death.

The husband's reaction to his wish—laughing—understates the consequences that will result from the wish.

The poem overall alludes to the Greek myth of King Midas, where he made a wish to turn everything to gold by touch.

The poem also alludes to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, a meeting between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I in June 1520 that was notable for its excessive displays of wealth by both nations, including a French tent that was covered in solid gold, gold coats worn by English soldiers, and a priest who gave a Mass wearing a cloth of gold that had been borrowed from Westminster Abbey. This allusion may also be to the paintings that have since depicted the event, which tend to use gold colors to emphasize the wealth on display.

Another allusion occurs in the third stanza when Mrs Midas refers to "Miss Macready," a character in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

N/A

"The kitchen / filled with the smell of itself, relaxed, its steamy breath / gently blanching the windows" (Lines 2-4)

"So I opened one, / then with my fingers wiped the other's glass like a brow" (Lines 4-5)

N/A

“snapping” (Line 6)