"Perseus"
In Greek mythology, Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae, achieved what many people thought was impossible. As a child, Perseus was feared by many people especially Acrisius (king of Argos and Danae's father), and therefore Perseus was locked up in a chest and cast into sea along with his mother. Brought to the island of Seriphus, where Perseus became a man, Polydectes, the king of Seriphus, fell in love with Danae. However, Polydectes was not a good guy. He did not like Perseus and thought that he would ruin the chance of him marrying Danae. Polydectes sent Perseus to collect the head of Medusa, thinking it was an impossible challenge. Medusa was a monster with snakes as hair, who if seen directly in the face; one would turn into stone immediately. Helped by Hermes, who gave Perseus a sword, which could not be bent nor broken. Athena, who gave him a shield. Gray women, who eventually gave Perseus the directions to the nymphs of the north. Lastly, the nymphs of the north, who gave him winged sandals, a magic wallet (which could fit whatever was put into it), and a cap to make him invisible. Perseus was now ready for Medusa. Perseus killed Medusa by using his shield's reflection to look at her. Cutting off her head and putting it into his wallet, Perseus was ready to go back home. However, Medusa had some sisters who were extremely angry and looking for revenge. Using his invisibility cap, Perseus was able to escape the sisters, put on his winged sandals, and headed home. On his journey home, Perseus saw and rescued Princess Andromeda from a sea monster and later took her to be his wife. In Seriphus, Perseus killed Polydectes by using Medusa's head, and freed his mother. Later, Perseus accidentally killed his grandfather, Acrisius, and began a family in Greece.
In the poem "Perseus," voice is used perfectly to show the plot of the poem and the feelings of the characters. Perseus is telling his own story about his incident with Medusa, therefore it is written in first person narrative. One can really get into the head of Perseus by the way the poem is written. In the beginning, Perseus is neither mad nor happy. Perseus is dedicated to do what he came for and that is to kill Medusa. After line five, the tone of the poem changes. This line shows the ending of the smooth, story plot tone and the beginning of the angry, scary and violent tone. Perseus then tells us that he cut off the head of Medusa. The head symbolizes the whole body. Although, he really did cut off Medusa's head first, Perseus tells us this to show that he won the fight and nothing could have gotten in his way. Afterwards, Perseus is so excited, so eager, so angry, that he needs to kill. Line twelve to the end finishes the poem with a very powerful voice ending. "None could have passed me then-- no garland-bearing girl, no priest or staring boy--and lived." This ending wraps up Perseus' anger, saying he would kill all of these innocent little creatures that passed him. It takes the violence to a level in which Perseus is unable to control, which shows how dedicated Perseus was.
When I read "Perseus," it makes me visualize the actual story of Perseus as if I were really there. The poem starts off with Medusa sleeping. One can picture how Medusa looks like because of lines one and two. These lines show that Medusa is sleeping and her hair is made up of a bunch of very cold snakes moving about. This is not a cute picture of a baby. This is a gory, gruesome picture of a monster. The next few lines make me picture Perseus and what he is doing, and what he is thinking of doing. Line seven is a very important line because it shows what Perseus came to do, kill Medusa. It makes me visualize Perseus swinging at will, due to his disadvantage because he is unable to look at Medusa. He then strikes Medusa and cuts off her head. To me, this is his resting point because he is now finally able to see. Line eleven really scares me when I visualize it. All of this time I think Perseus is a really nice guy who is killing Medusa to save other people, but then it makes me think that if I were with Perseus he would kill me. He just killed a very big threat and wants to kill again. Whatever he sees he will kill. This poem tells and shows the story of Perseus and the abundance of imagery really makes one realize how serious and determined Perseus really was.
Figuration is very important to all poems and is used very well in the poem, "Perseus." On line one, a very unusual combinations of words are used, "gelid mass." These words literally mean a very cold weight. As one can probably tell, these words are very different and are not used together often. In addition, on line five, "hated truth" is unusual. The fact that truth is hated shows that good things are disliked. Another pair of unusual words is "gazing silences." These words are very uncommonly found together. These two words are known as personification. Robert Hayden is giving silences human qualities by saying it is gazing. On line ten, personification is used again. Hayden says "terrored stone." This shows that stone is terrified. Stone is not alive and therefore cannot be scared. Robert Hayden also uses a simile on line four and five. It says, "a scathing image dire as hated truth the mind accepts at last and festers on." Robert Hayden is comparing a harmful, dreadful image to a mind that is full of hated truth, however, still moves on. Lastly, the word "thirsted," on line eleven is used differently. Thirsted is usually used as a way to show that one would like something to drink. Here, it is used to show that Perseus wants to destroy more. It shows that he is eager to kill. This is a metaphor. This poem is a lot stronger due to figuration.
The sound used in "Perseus," really makes the poem very powerful. On line seven assonance is used, "flashed bare," uses the same "a" sound. In addition, on line five assonance is used again, however, alliteration is also used. Hayden says, "accepts at." These two words start with the same sound and that sound is a vowel sound. Towards the end of the poem there is a little repetition. Hayden says, "no garland-bearing girl, no priest..." The word "no" is used twice in one line. "No" is a negative word that helps find the tone of the poem. On line thirteen and fourteen (same line), assonance and repetition is used. In this line, "garland-bearing.... staring," all use the "ar" letters. However, "garland" does not sound like the other two words. There is not a specific pattern in the syllables, which might symbolize that the poem might be randomly written. Almost all of the lines in "Perseus" have an iambic pentameter, however, the metrical feet varies almost every line. In addition, there is not a certain rhythm. In "Perseus," there are two stanzas which both have seven lines. The first stanza ends with Perseus hitting Medusa and the second starts with Perseus cutting off her head. This is like a movie with two discs. Ending with something exciting and starting with the event ended with the viewer clueless. Every other line (except when switching stanzas), there is an indentation being used. This might be used to emphasize some lines. There are quit a few end-stopped lines which leaves the reader to be a bit confused. After realizing these end-stopped lines the reader can realize that they are put to emphasize some lines. Examples of these end-stopped lines are used on lines three to four, four to five, nine to ten, and twelve to thirteen. The actual end stopped suddenly but perfect. The final two words, "and lived," end off the line before it, but most importantly end the poem and the story of Perseus.
Gelid- Adjective. Very cold; icy.
Serpents- Noun. A reptile of the order Serpentes; a snake.
Torpidly- Adverb. In a daze; in a dazed manner.
Astir- Adjective. Moving about; being in motion.
Scathing- Adjective. Harmful or painful; injurious.
Dire- Adjective. Warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous.
Festers- Verb. To be subject to or exist in a condition of decline.
Terrored- Adjective. Intense, overpowering fear.
Garland-bearing- Adjective. Carrying from one place to another; transport, a wreath or festoon, especially one of plaited flowers or leaves, worn on the body or draped as a decoration.
Created by Pierre