Mrs Sisyphus

Mrs.
Sisyphus
(The World’s Wife, 1999)
That’s him pushing the stone up the hill, the jerk.
I call it a stone – it’s nearer the size of a kirk.

When he first started out, it just used to irk,
but now it incenses me, and him, the absolute berk.
I could do something vicious to him with a dirk. 5
Think of the perks, he says.

What use is a perk, I shriek,
when you haven’t the time to pop open a cork
or go for so much as a walk in the park?
He’s a dork. 10
Folk flock from miles around just to gawk.
They think it’s a quirk,
a bit of a lark.
A load of old bollocks is nearer the mark.
He might as well bark 15
at the moon –
that feckin’ stone’s no sooner up
than it’s rolling back
all the way down.
And what does he say? 20
Mustn’t shirk –
keen as a hawk,
lean as a shark
Mustn’t shirk!
But I lie alone in the dark, 25

feeling like Noah’s wife did
when he hammered away at the Ark;
like Frau Johann Sebastian Bach.
My voice reduced to a squawk,
my smile to a twisted smirk; 30
while, up on the deepening murk of the hill,
he is giving one hundred per cent and more to his work.
kirk = church (Scottish dialect)

berk = fool/idiot (colloquial British)
Poetry Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide (with thanks & apologies to Dr. Margaret Sims)
First Impressions
I. Title. Consider your initial impressions of the title. How does it set the tone for the poem?
What does it suggest about the subject of the poem?
The title “Mrs. Sisyphus” suggests that the poem will focus entirely on the wife of Sisyphus.
It blatantly shows that it will relate to her and her life with little underlying tone. Takes
away identity and individuality because she doesn't have her own name; resentful;
husbands on indefinite search
II. Paraphrase. Translate the poem into your own words; be able to drain the descriptive and
figurative language from the poem to reduce it to its core meaning.
a. Identify a speaker in the poem and speculate as to the speaker’s purpose/aim.
b. Focus on one syntactical unit at a time. Sometimes just rewriting the poem as a
passage of prose aids in understanding.
c. Locate the verbs—these will show the central action of the poem. Analyzing verb
choice should also to be key to your attention to diction.
d. Locate the tension. All poetry presents or implies some kind of conflict, problem,
questions, unsettled feeling, twinge, etc. If you can identify this tension, your
analysis will become much easier.
a.) The speaker in the poem is from Mrs. Sisyphus’s perspective. The purpose of including
her as the sole focus is that it allows the reader to see entirely from her point of view and
experience the emotions that she had felt. This poem offers an alternate perspective of
Sisyphus’s.
III. Diction.
a. Denotations. Look up and define any words you do not recognize or fully
understand.
b. Allusion. Research any historical/literary/mythological references you do not know.
c. Connotations. Explore the implied meanings and associations of key words.
Remember, how does it make you feel? What does that mean? Note any patterns of
diction. What are the suggestions, implications, or hints in these word choices? What
do these patterns indicate?
The allusion of Noah’s wife in the story indicates that Mrs. Sisyphus felt similar to how
Noah’s wife did. Noah, being involved in a story where he was entirely dedicated to his
goals, is representative of Sisyphus. Noah’s story has little to no mention of his wife, and
similarly Mrs. Sisyphus feels rejected and abandoned in a similar manner. Her story is
never considered, and her husband never acknowledges her. This allusion serves the
purpose of emphasizing the suffering and loneliness that Mrs. Sisyphus experienced.
IV. Tone and/or Mood. Based on diction, images, and sound devices, identify the speaker’s
attitude toward her subject (tone) and the impression the poem communicates to the reader
(mood).
The speaker’s attitude is very hostile and aggravated. Throughout the poem, Mrs.
Sisyphus makes her hostility clear as she is upset that her husband pays little to no
attention to her. This creates a very sad mood for the readers because we pity the
character, because she is suffering and lonely.
Close Reading
I. Devices. Locate as many poetry devices as you can. Consider the following:
a. Sounds devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, rhyme,
euphony, cacophony, etc)
b. Figurative language (metaphor, hyperbole, personification, pun, etc)
c. Imagery, motifs, juxtaposition, etc.
d. Symbolism, allegory, allusion, etc
I can locate symbolism and allusion. Throughout the entire poem, symbolism is seen as the
drastic life differences between Sisyphus and his wife represent the large scale presence of
inequality in relationships between men and women. Allusion is seen with Noah’s ark, as this is
also used to emphasize the loneliness and suffering that Mrs. Sisyphus endured as she was never
considered or valued.
II. Technique. Note aspects of style and structure. Consider the following:
a. Aspects of pacing: enjambment, end stop, caesura, line breaks, stanza breaks
b. Syntax, sentence style, sentence types
c. Repetition, parallel structure, etc
d. Rhythm, meter
e. Closed form vs. open form
I notice rhythm throughout the passage using rhyme and syntax with short sentences. Both the
presence of rhythm and short sentences work to emphasize the conflicting feelings of Mrs.
Sisyphus. The sentences being rather short demonstrates how she feels as though her voice
cannot be heard and she is not given priority.
III. Shifts
a. Transitional words/phrases: but, yet, now, however, still, although, etc.
b. Punctuation: dashes, periods, colons, question marks, ellipses, etc
c. Stanza breaks/line breaks
d. Changes in point of view, diction, focus, direction, pacing, etc
The transition of the poem is in the last stanza as the poem says “but”. This marks a shift between
her having hostility and annoyance towards her husband, and with her confronting and
acknowledging her underlying feelings. She just wishes to be appreciated, valued and noticed by
her husband, and these are her true feelings which are hidden with her anger in the previous
stanzas.

Mrs Sisyphus

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Mrs Sisyphus

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Mrs.

That’s him pushing the stone up the hill, the jerk.

I call it a stone – it’s nearer the size of a kirk.

Think of the perks, he says.

But I lie alone in the dark, 25

kirk = church (Scottish dialect)

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