What is Carol Ann Duffy's Thetis about?

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.
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.

Reply 1

Duffy is?

Original post by PhillipZ

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.
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.

Conext: Thetis was a Greek God who could control nature and shape shift, she later becomes the mother of Achilles. Pelius is told by Zeus to marry her and so he must tie her up into so she can not metamorphose into something to escape.
Subversion/Message: Duffy has clearly written from her perspective but subverts the story so that when she gives birth to Achilles she is no longing fleeing man. the ending is ambiguous as it can be seen as giving birth to a male child that causes her change in attitude to he male gender or alternatively she feels he will now protect her.
The real message of this story is to show the juxtaposition between men and women and how men ruthlessly wish to control both women and nature and women are the innocent and defenseless victims who must watch on as men destroy nature.
Only through giving birth can Thetis escape and so it is debatable who is liberated in this poem as she must succumb to Pelius?
Hope this helps, if anything doesn't make any sense just say!

Reply 2

Beth1234

11

Original post by PhillipZ

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.
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.

Looking at my notes from when I studied this poem, I seemed to conclude that it was about the "vulnerability of women at the hands of men, and also their ability to adapt and survive". Duffy herself said that the poem was about "how women are changed for and by love".

I think the end also brings across Duffy's attitude towards motherhood - while her views of women's role in society subvert the traditional, she tends to have the more traditional view that a female is part of nature, continuing life with the innate desire to give birth.

If you are studying the poem in detail, I dug up my lengthy old notes from before: