Thetis
Carol Ann Duffy`
Animal - Miike Snow
I shrank myself
To the size of a bird in the hand
Of a man.
Sweet, sweet, was the small song
That I sang
Till I felt the squeeze of his fist.
Then I did this:
Shouldered the cross of an albatross
Up the hill of the sky.
Why? To follow a ship.
But I felt my wings
Clipped by the squint of a crossbow’s eye.
So I shopped for a suitable shape.
Size 8. Snake.
Big Mistake.
Coiled in my charmer’s lap,
I felt the grasp of his strangler’s clasp
At my nape.
Next I was raw, claw, 50 lb paw,
Jungle-floored, meateater, raw,
A zebra’s gore
In my lower jaw.
But my gold eye saw
The guy in the grass with the gun. Twelve-bore.
Thetis
I sank through the floor of the earth
To swim in the sea.
Mermaid, me, big fish, eel, dolphin,
Whale, the ocean’s opera singer.
Over the waves the fisherman came
With his hook and his line and his sinker.
I changed my tune
To raccoon, skunk, stoat,
To weasel, ferret, bat, mink, rat.
The taxidermist sharpened his knives.
I smelled the stink of formaldehyde.
Stuff that.
I was wind, I was gas,
I was all hot air trailed
Clouds for hair.
I scrawled my name with a hurricane,
When out of the blue
Roared a fighter plane.
Then my tongue was flame
And my kisses burned,
But the groom wore asbestos.
So I changed, I learned,
Turned inside out – or that’s
How it felt when the child burst out.
I shrank myself
to the size of a bird in the hand
of a man.
Sweet, sweet, was the small song
that I sang,
till I felt the squeeze of his fist.
Then I did this:
shouldered the cross of an albatross
up the hill of the sky.
Why? To follow a ship.
But I felt my wings
clipped by the squint of a crossbow’s eye.
So I shopped for a suitable shape.
Size 8. Snake.
Big Mistake.
Coiled in my charmer’s lap,
I felt the grasp of his strangler’s clasp
at my nape.
Next I was roar, claw, 50 lb paw,
jungle-floored, meateater, raw,
a zebra’s gore
in my lower jaw.
But my gold eye saw
the guy in the grass with the gun. Twelve-bore.
Marking Key:
Rhymes
Alliteration
Pun/irony (?)
Imagery
Anaphora
Numeration
Enjambment
Personification
Polysyndeton
Onomatopoeia
Hyperbole
Consonance
Metonymy
Assonance
Antithesis
Allusion (?)
I sank through the floor of the earth
to swim in the sea.
Mermaid, me, big fish, eel, dolphin,
whale, the ocean’s opera singer.
Over the waves the fisherman came
with his hook and his line and his sinker.
I changed my tune
to racoon, skunk, stoat,
to weasel, ferret, bat, mink, rat.
The taxidermist sharpened his knives.
I smelled the stink of formaldehyde.
Stuff that.
I was wind, I was gas,
I was all hot air, trailed
clouds for hair.
I scrawled my name with a hurricane,
when out of the blue
roared a fighter plane.
Then my tongue was flame
and my kisses burned,
but the groom wore asbestos.
So I changed, I learned,
turned inside out - or that’s
how it felt when the child burst out.
Form
• 8 stanzas
• 48 lines
• 6 lines in each stanza
• Rhyming (hand/man/sang/
fist/this/sky/why/my/by/eye etc.)
• Lines vary between 2 to 9
words.
• Syllable count are from 3
to 10 per line.
• In first person (informal)
Historical
• Archaic Greece (period before Athens and Sparta
City-states).
• Sea nymph/ water goddess
• Initially courted by two gods (Zeus and Poseidon)
• Thrown aside for a prophecy stating that which ever
child Thetis bore, would be stronger than its father.
• She married a mortal Peleus and gave birth to
Achilles.
• She made him immortal by dipping him into the
River Styx (some legends it’s fire instead) but held
him by his ankle, making it his weak-spot.
Poem
• Literal: Thetis shape shifts throughout her life
until the point of her child’s birth.
• Ideas
– Man vs. Nature
– Learning from one’s mistakes—adapting to one’s
surroundings (“I changed, I learned”)
– Changing oneself for the likes of others (“I shopped
for a suitable shape”)
– Empowerment of women—growing stronger (“I was
roar, claw, 50lb paw”) and changing after
heartbreaks (“I changed my tune”).
Sound Devices
Alliteration
• “Sweet, sweet, was the small song”
• “So I shopped for a suitable shape./Size 8. Snake”
• “the guy in the grass with the gun.”
• “Ocean’s Opera singer”
• “I was wind, I was gas”
Assonance
• “Hand/of a man…that I sang”
• “Squeezed his fist./Then I did this:”
• “Cross of an albatross”
• “Shape/Size 8./Snake/Big Mistake”
• “Grasp of his strangler’s clasp”
• “Zebra’s gore… Twelve-bore”
• “Bat, mink, rat”
• “Hot air, trailed/clouds for hair”
• “Name with a hurricane”
• “Plane/Then my tongue was flame”
Sound Devices (continuation)
Consonance
• “Hill/follow”
• “Sky/why/my/by…eye”
• “Lap/grasp…clasp/nape”
• “was…claw…paw/raw/lower jaw/saw/with…twelve-bore”
Anaphora
• “I was wind, I was gas,/I was all hot air”
Enjambment
• Myself/to, hand/of, song/that, albatross/up, wings/clipped, clasp/at, earth/to,
came/with, tune/to, trailed/clouds, blue/roared, flame/and, that’s/how.
Onomatopoeia
• “Sweet, sweet, was the small song/that I sang,”
Asyndeton (numeration)
• “Mermaid, me big fish, eel, dolphin,/whale”
• “To raccoon, skunk stoat,/to weasel, ferret, bat, mink, rat”
Figurative Language
Hyperbole
• “I shrank myself/to the size of a bird”
• “My tongue was flame”
Imagery
• “Squeeze of his fist”
• “Shouldered the cross”
• “Coiled in my charmer’s lap”
• “Gold eye saw”
• “Sank through the floor”
• “Sharpened his knives”
• “The stink of formaldehyde”
• “Scrawled my name with a hurricane”
• “The child burst out”
Irony/Pun
• “Stuff it”
Figurative Language (continuation)
Personification
• “Squint of a crossbow’s eye”
• “Ocean’s opera singer”
• “Roared a fighter plane”
• “My kissed burned”
Metonymy
• “Roar, claw, 50lb paw/meateater, raw”
• “Gold eye saw”
• “Groom”
Antithesis
• “I sank through the floor of the earth”
Discussion Questions:
Question 1: How has the concept of survival of the fittest
have an impact on human society, and has said impact been
positive or negative?
Question 2: The poem “Thetis” is written in the first person,
thus giving the readers an idea of the female’s side of survival.
How accurate is the idea of changing “shapes” in modern
society?
Bibliography
Pictures
• http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=animals#/d4r7hxh
• http://darkdex52.deviantart.com/art/Aluminium-Lizard151319650?q=boost%3Apopular%20in%3Aphotography%2Fnature%2Freptiles&qo=21
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/wild/?order=9&offset=24#/d2crmgt
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/wild/?order=9&offset=24#/d4gaa9p
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/underwater/#/d2e0sq6
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/birds/?order=9&offset=48#/d4p6xht
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/birds/?order=9&offset=72#/d4qy3ez
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/reptiles/#/d4iq2qc
• http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/nature/underwater/?order=9&offset=24#/d2ckk4c
• http://browse.deviantart.com/?order=9&q=animal+textures&offset=24#/d16aiqv
• http://browse.deviantart.com/?order=9&q=animal+textures&offset=48#/d56m66g
Information
• https://henriksenenglish.wikispaces.com/file/view/Thetis.pdf
• www.whscms.org.uk/getfile.php?src=239/Thetis.ppt
• http://bethanyasliterature.blogspot.com/2011/03/carol-ann-duffy-poem-order-themes.html