Medusa Critical Essay

National 5 – Intro to Critical Essay

Choose a poem which creates a particular mood or atmosphere.

By referring to poetic techniques, show how the poet creates this particular mood or

atmosphere.

Intro –

T – Title

A – Author

R – Refer to question

T – Techniques

‘Medusa’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a poem that deals with the character from Greek mythology, Medusa from an alternative perspective. Duffy creates the mood of anger throughout the poem by showing the inner turmoil of the narrator, Medusa. Duffy shows this by using techniques such as word choice, structure, sibilance and imagery.

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Medusa opens with the speaker of the poem discussing their mental state. It is clear to see that this includes some anger. The speaker says that the hairs on her head have turned to “filthy snakes”. The word “filthy” indicates something shameful and disgusting, which shows the reader the anger she feels when looking at her hair. This feeling continues when Medusa uses the image of her hair being like her thoughts “hissed and spat” on her scalp. The sibilance of the repeated ‘s’ sounds in hissed and spat make the reader think of snakes. Snakes are vicious and evil, traditionally, which indicates that Medusa’s thoughts are vicious. This therefore portrays a mood of anger.