Mrs Sisyphus by English Literature

Mrs Sisyphus

kiyamazur — 2014-09-27 13:00:18 UTC

kiyamazur — 2014-09-27 13:01:46 UTC

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.²

Think of the perks, he says.

What use is a perk, I shriek,

when you haven't time to pop open a cork

or go for so much as a walk in the park?

He's a dork.

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

at the moon -

that's feckin' stone's no sooner up

than it's rolling back

all the way down.

And what doe he say?

Mustn't shirk -

keen as a hawk,

lean as a shark

Mustn't shirk!

But I lie alone in the dark,

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;¹

while, up on the deepening murk of the hill,

he is giving one hundred per cent and more to his work.

kiyamazur — 2014-09-27 13:04:10 UTC

kiyamazur — 2014-09-27 13:05:46 UTC

In Greek mythology Sisyphus was a king of Ephyra,he was punished for chronic deceitfulness by being made to roll a big stone up a hill, only to watch it roll back down,and to repeat this action forever.

kiyamazur — 2014-09-27 13:10:21 UTC

In the first stanza the lines all have the same end rhyme ('rk'). Mrs. Sisyphus begins by describing the process of her husband's actions and her reactions to them.The effect of the rhyme scheme is to mimic the repetitive motion of his task (rolling the stone up the hill). The rhyming words are all expressing irritation and anger. As he pushes the stone up the hill, she is performing her own repetitive task of bearing her anger, which, like his actions, produce nothing and are pointless.

Mrs. Sisyphus's idea that if someone is working all the time, then they cannot enjoy the perks that result from the handwork. There is no time to enjoy the perks,such as 'a walk in the park' therefore there is no point in working. The three words that play off each other are perk park and cork because they sound similar and have rhyming patterns. This technique of rhyme with words that look and sound alike add to the tone of the poem and emphasizes the style.

Line 11 shows alliteration of the f~ sounds in 'folk flock and from.' Alliteration is present throughout the poem, with the most visible one 'k'~ sound that is within the lines as well as used throughout the poem as a rhyming scheme.

The use of two consecutive similes-comparing him to a hawk and shark, the poet creates an interesting character. I imagine these too aggressive animals going after their prey,this is seen throughout the poem as the character is driven and pushed towards pushing the rock up the hill.

The repetition of 'mustn't shirk' is again empathising the repetition of Sisyphus's action.

The descriptive, dark tones show how Mrs Sisyphus feels about her husband and the use of 'alone' and 'dark' help portray how she feels abandoned from her husband because he is so consumed by his work, which she clearly does not approve of. Further in the stanza, other gloomy words appear, including 'reduced' and 'twisted.' The pain she feels from the absence of her husband is portrayed though that.

The last line marks a shift in the tone of the voice in the poem because it gives the impression that perhaps Mrs Sisyphus admires her husband for being so determined and dedicate so much of his energy to his work. However she may also be using sarcasm to emphasise her annoyance of him working all the time