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Based on an ancient Greek myth, Carol Ann Duffy's "Demeter" illustrates the immense power of a mother's love. Demeter is the Greek goddess of agriculture and the harvest, whose beloved daughter, Persephone, gets kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld (and Demeter's brother!). Demeter's immense, icy grief casts the world into winter, as she ...
- Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds—particularly the sound of a word’s initial consonant—for aural effect.
- Anapest: An anapest is a metrical foot of poetry that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. Anapest is used in meter such as anapestic tetrameter (four anapests per line of poetry).
- Anaphora: In poetry, anaphora refers to a repeated word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines. As it comes at the beginning of a line, anaphora does not affect a poem’s pattern of rhyme.
- Apostrophe: An apostrophe is a poetic phrase addressed to a subject who is either dead or absent, or to an inanimate object or abstract idea.
- Summary
- The Myth of Demeter
- Structure and Form
- Literary Devices
- Detailed Analysis
- Similar Poetry
‘Demeter’ by Carol Ann Duffyis a beautiful poem that describes Demeter’s love for her daughter Persephone. In the first lines of the poem, Duffy paints a dark picture of Demeter’s situation. She’s alone, cold, in a world that’s filled with grief. She’s done everything she can to get her daughter back from the Underworld, and now she’s forced to wai...
This particular poem, like others in ‘The World’s Wife’, delves into an alternative viewpoint from mythology. Duffy uses Demeter, the Greek goddess of fertility and the harvest, as the speaker. The poem alludes to the most commonly told mytharound Demeter’s life. That is the loss of her daughter, Persephone, who was forced to accompany Hades to the...
‘Demeter’ by Carol Ann Duffy is a fourteen-line poem that is divided into stanzas of two or three lines. It could be considered a sonnet (because of how many lines are in the poem). But, it does not follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern, two things that are most often a part of a traditional sonnet. It does end with a rhyming couplet, ...
Alliteration: the repetition of the same consonant sound at the beginning of words. For example, “flat” and “frozen” in line three of stanzatwo and “feet” and “flowers” in line one of stanza four.Enjambment: a common literary device that occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping point. For example, the transitionbetween lines two and three of the first stanza and line...Stanzas One and Two
In the first stanza of ‘Demeter,’ the poet begins by addressing the darkest period of Demeter’s life, that in which she is without her daughter. It’s only one part of the year she has to suffer this way, but while it’s occurring, everything is “winter and hard earth.” Her room is “cold stone.” These words are wonderfully evocative and suggest a very clear atmosphereof grief and loneliness. When her daughter isn’t there, Demeter’s life is hardly worth living. She has to think about Persephone...
Stanza Three
In the third stanza, Demeter recalls what it was like to see her daughter arriving. She came from a “long, long way” (an allusion to the Underworld). She was “walking…across the fields,” not unlike those she was in when she initially disappeared. While Persephone is a grown woman, Demeter still refers to her as “my girl.” This is a tender term of endearment that’s used on Duffy’s part to make the reader feel Demeter’s humanity. This is an integral part of the poems in ‘The World’s Wife’. The...
Stanzas Four and Five
While the first line of the fourth stanza sounds like hyperbole, it could be taken literally. It’s not until Persephone arrives that Demeter’s spirits are cheered, and the seasons change. Readers can look back to the myth for more information about what happened when Persephone was first abducted, and Demeter had no idea what happened to her. Now, juxtaposedwith the cold and dark images in the first stanza, Persophone brings with her “air softened and warmed.” She brings “spring’s flowers” in...
Readers who enjoyed ‘Persephone’ should also consider reading some other Carol Ann Duffy poems. For example: 1. ‘The Map-Woman’ – uses a metaphoricaldepiction of the female body to describe how inescapable identity is. 2. ‘Beautiful’ – focuses on the damage beauty can cause. Duffy speaks on Helen of Troy, Princess Diana, and others in these lines. ...
- Female
- October 9, 1995
- Poetry Analyst And Editor
- Rhyme and rhyme scheme. When we think of poetry, rhyme is probably the first poetic device that comes to mind. From the tales of Mother Goose to the works of the greats, it’s one of the defining characteristics of poetry.
- Meter. Meter is the basic structure of a line of poetry, whereby stressed and unstressed syllables are used in a predetermined way to create rhythm. In a sense, it’s the heartbeat of a poem.
- Lineation. Also known as layout, lineation is about how words and sentences are physically arranged on the page. While poetry is often best enjoyed when spoken aloud, it can also be a visual medium — and lineation is a large part of that.
- Form. Pulling back for a second, let’s take a wider look at poetry in general and talk about form. Form is the actual structure of a poem and consists of three parts: rhyme scheme, meter, and lineation.
Glossary of poetic terms (Representative Poetry Online) anaphora. the repetition of a word or phrase, usually at the beginning of a line. alliteration. the repetition of sounds in a sequence of words. (See also consonance and assonance.) allegory. narrative with two levels of meaning, one stated and one unstated.
Feb 7, 2022 · A beam in darkness: let it grow. 5. Epic. The part of The Odyssey where our 'heroes' break into a man's home, only to mess with his sheep and blind him with a stick. The epic poetry form is, as the name might suggest, one of the longest (and oldest) forms of poetry — often book-length.
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Anything that impacts the way a poem or other written work looks or sounds is a type of poetic device, including devices that are also classified as literary or rhetorical devices. Consider your writing—whether it’s an essay, poem, or non-fiction article—as a meal you’re cooking. You use good ingredients and put a lot of care into the ...
