Jacob Macnab
Poetry Analysis Submission 1
December 4, 2013
Analysis of Medusa by Louise Bogan
The poem Medusa by Louise Bogan (1897-1970) includes a unique experience involving
an encounter with the mythical gorgon named Medusa. The poem begins as an eerie approach to
a house that appears to lie in the middle of a jungle or forest. “I had come to the house, in a cave
of trees, facing a sheer sky.” Bogan uses personification to portray a setting in a jungle or forest
with the quote “cave of trees”. This creates a vision of thick trees that seem to surround the
majority of the terrain, and supports an eerie mood. Also, “sheer sky” helps the poem flow with
alliteration. Then, Bogan creates suspense with the quote “Everything moved,--a bell hung ready
to strike”. The suspense plays well into the eerie mood because it keeps the reader guessing
what will happen next. The first stanza ends with a rhyme; “Facing a sheer sky…Sun and
reflection wheeled by.” This connects the two lines because they both have to do with the air
with connections of “sky” and “sun”. The next stanza begins rather abruptly compared to the
first. Medusa appears from out of nowhere: “When the bare eyes were before me and the
hissing hair…” Two different literary elements enhance these lines; both of which in the same
quote. “Hissing hair” acts as personification and alliteration. The personification suggests that
the hair shook and wanted whoever it caught sight of to leave, similar to a rattlesnake. This
quote also acts as alliteration, which emphasizes the personification. Next, the poem continues
to describe Medusa’s face with the quote “The stiff bald eyes, the serpents on the forehead
formed in the air.” This rhymes with the previous line, “And the hissing hair”. This connects
the two lines and suggests that the hissing hair actually forms in the air. The next stanza
becomes pessimistic, as if Medusa turned the entire poem to stone. “This is a dead scene forever
now. Nothing will ever stir. The end will never brighten it more than this, nor the rain blur.”
Jacob Macnab
Poetry Analysis Submission 1
December 4, 2013
Rhyming consists of the only literary technique used in this stanza between “stir” and “blur”.
These lines start with “Nothing” and “Nor”, which further connects the two lines. In the fourth
stanza, yet another rhyme arises, as well as an example of contradiction. The contradiction lies
in the line “The water will always fall, and will not fall”, in which water takes the properties of
falling and floating. However, the floating characteristic perceives to have originated from
Medusa turning the ‘mood’ of the poem to stone, thus freezing all including the water. Also in
this stanza; a rhyme with the words “sound” and “ground”. These two lines relate because the
first speaks of a tipped bell on the ground which makes it quiet. In the final stanza, literary
elements include personification, simile, alliteration, and another rhyme. The quote “And I shall
stand here like a shadow” contains alliteration and a simile. The alliteration, “shall stand”,
emphasizes the simile to come. The simile, “I shall stand here like a shadow”, indicates that
whoever has had the encounter that occurs throughout the entire poem stands as if he or she
simply acted as a bystander. The next line contains personification; “Under the great balanced
day”, which means that the entirety of the poem had balance from the beginning. Although it
seems that the poem consisted of a mostly pessimistic or eerie mood, the simile in the line before
cancels much of the darker moods out. Finally, the last stanza has rhymes between “day”, and
“away” from the line “And does not drift away.” This connects the two lines because the
balanced day will not drift away, meaning that this day will remain in memory for years to come.