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“Demeter” Introduction
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Based on an ancient Greek myth, Carol Ann Duffy's "Demeter" illustrates the immense power of a mother's love. Demeter is the Greek goddess of agriculture and the harvest, whose beloved daughter, Persephone, gets kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld (and Demeter's brother!). Demeter's immense, icy grief casts the world into winter, as she refuses to let anything grow until her daughter comes back. Only when she finally sees Persephone walking towards her once again does spring return to the earth, the warm air and fresh blooms reflecting the return of joy to Demeter's heart. "Demeter" was first published in Duffy's 1999 collection, The World's Wife, which includes dramatic monologues told from the perspective of (often overlooked) female figures from history and myth.
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“Demeter” Summary
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Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, describes what the world was like after her daughter, Persephone, left: it was winter and the ground was hard. Demeter would sit in a freezing room made of stone and use rough, gritty language, which she metaphorically compares to shards of rock, in an attempt to break through the frozen land. She even tried using her own broken heart to crack through the frozen lake separating her from Persephone, but it simply skipped along the ice.
Persephone eventually returned, coming from very far away. Demeter was relieved and delighted to finally see her child, her own daughter, walking barefoot over the land. Persephone brought springtime with her, flowers blooming once again across the earth in her wake. Demeter was sure she felt the air become gentler and warmer as Persephone approached. The sky at last was happy and blue, the faint crescent of the new moon appearing like a shy little grin.
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“Demeter” Themes
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The Power of Maternal Love
Though based on a Greek myth, "Demeter" explores a deeply human and relatable theme: the bond between mother and daughter. A heartbroken Demeter (the goddess of agriculture and the harvest) laments the abduction of Persephone, her daughter, by Hades, the god of the underworld. Demeter neglects her duties to the earth in her sorrow, casting the world into a dark winter that reflects the depths of her grief. Persephone’s eventual return, however, heralds the arrival of spring: a season of fresh growth and rebirth. The poem thus celebrates the power and depth of a mother's love, treating this love as an essential, nourishing, and even life-giving force.
Demeter paints a bleak picture of a world without her beloved child. The earth is “hard” and frozen over with ice, mirroring Demeter’s own grief-stricken heart. She sits in a “cold stone room” (a metaphorical description of the world in winter) and her “words” have grown brittle and sharp like bits of “granite” or “flint.” Her separation from her daughter feels like a kind of death, a pain that has stripped her life—and the earth itself—of all light, warmth, and comfort.
Once Persephone returns, however, both Demeter's mood and the world transform. As the girl walks barefoot "across the fields," she brings "all spring's flowers / to her mother's house”—that is, spring returns to the earth. The air itself seems to "soften[] and warm[]," restoring life to the world and joy to Demeter's heart. Even the sky above smiles “with the small shy mouth of a new moon”—another image that connotes freshness, youth, and rebirth.
The poem thus links motherly love with the abundance and beauty of the natural world. It presents a mother's love and bond between parent and child not simply as a source of deep happiness, but as an essential part of life itself.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-14
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Demeter”
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Line 1
Where I lived ... and hard earth.
The title adds important context to the poem: the speaker here is Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture and the harvest. Her story provides an explanation for the changing seasons:
- Demeter had a beloved daughter named Persephone who was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld (and Demeter's brother). Hades wanted to marry Persephone and, knowing that Demeter would never approve, snatched her from the earth by creating a great hole in the ground.
- Demeter loved her child fiercely and was adamant that nothing would grow until she had her back. With Persephone gone, the earth became barren and unforgiving.
- Eventually, Demeter and Hades reached a compromise: Persephone would return to the earth for a set period each year. This led to the rhythm of the seasons: when Persephone is gone, it's winter; when she comes back, it's spring/summer.
With this context in mind, the poem makes more sense: readers can guess that the poem begins in winter, the time when Persephone is no longer by her mother's side.
Line 1 sets up a bleak atmosphere in which seemingly nothing can grow. It's cold ("winter") and the earth (where Demeter "live[s]") is "hard." Literally, the ground is frozen; more figuratively, this "hard earth" suggests that life itself is difficult and unforgiving.
The caesura in the middle of this line reflects that difficulty, the dash breaking up Demeter's speech almost as soon as it's begun:
Where I lived – winter and hard earth.
The break in the line perhaps suggests Demeter's broken heart and the difficulty she has choking words out in her child's absence.
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Lines 2-4
I sat in ...
... break the ice.
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Lines 4-6
My broken heart ...
... the frozen lake. -
Lines 7-9
She came from ...
... across the fields, -
Lines 10-12
in bare feet, ...
... as she moved, -
Lines 13-14
the blue sky ...
... a new moon.
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“Demeter” Symbols
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The New Moon
It's no coincidence that a "new moon" appears just as Persephone returns to her mother (and the earth). This moon marks the start of a lunar cycle, and its appearance here symbolizes the rebirth of the world (and of Demeter herself, in a way) in spring. That this moon is "small" and "shy" perhaps suggests the delicateness and fragility of such new life/joy. It must be carefully tended to in order to survive.
The moon is also often linked with femininity. Its appearance connects new life and growth to a mother's love, as well as to traditionally feminine traits (i.e., being nurturing, gentle, and tender).
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Lines 13-14: “the blue sky smiling, none too soon, / with the small shy mouth of a new moon.”
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“Demeter” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
"Demeter" uses alliteration to support its imagery and to capture its speaker's changing mood.
The first two stanzas are mostly full of harsh, spiky sounds. This is the winter section of the poem, during which Demeter grieves for her abducted daughter, Persephone. The bold alliteration in line 4's "break" and "broken" reflects the intensity of her heartbreak, the /br/ working with the /k/ consonance ("break," "broken," "skimmed," "lake") to suggest sharpness and pain. The muffled /f/ sounds of "flat" and "frozen" likewise add intensity to the poem and perhaps subtly evoke the frigid, sense-dulling cold that's fallen across the earth.
Once Persephone returns, the poem's atmosphere transforms. Suddenly, the sounds of Demeter's language seem warm and inviting rather than forbidding and wintery. The /b/ alliteration of "bare feet" and "bringing," for example, seems bouncy and bright rather than blustery, while sibilant alliteration casts a quiet hush over the poem's final lines:
[...] I swear
the air softened and warmed as she moved,the blue sky smiling, none too soon,
with the small shy mouth of a new moon.Compared with the spiky sounds of the first two stanzas, these lines come across as intimate and tender. The /m/ sounds of "mouth" and "moon" then end the poem with a gentle, soothing hum.
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 4: “break,” “broken”
- Line 6: “flat,” “frozen”
- Line 7: “long, long”
- Line 8: “last”
- Line 10: “bare,” “bringing”
- Line 11: “swear”
- Line 12: “softened”
- Line 13: “sky smilin,” “soon”
- Line 14: “small,” “mouth,” “moon”
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Assonance
Unlock all 147 words of this analysis of Assonance in “Demeter,” and get the poetic device analyses for every poem we cover.
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Caesura
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Consonance
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Imagery
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Juxtaposition
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Parataxis
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Metaphor
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Repetition
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“Demeter” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Granite
- Flint
- Skimmed
- New Moon
Granite-
(Location in poem: Line 3: “choosing tough words, granite, flint,”)
A type of rock.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Demeter”
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Form
"Demeter" consists of 14 lines broken up into four tercets (three-line stanzas) and a single concluding couplet. It loosely resembles an English sonnet, which also has 14 lines and ends with a rhyming couplet. Sonnets often focus on love, just as "Demeter" does (though, of course, the love in "Demeter" is maternal rather than romantic). In subtly linking the poem to such a classic form, Duffy elevates the love at the heart of "Demeter"; this is the stuff of great poetry, the poem's form suggests.
That said, this is again a very loose sonnet given that it uses tercets rather than the typical quatrains (four-line stanzas). The use of shorter, three-line stanzas makes the poem seem a bit more fragmented than a typical sonnet, and it might thus reflect Demeter's heartbreak.
The final couplet then provides the poem's only end rhyme, a satisfying pairing that reflects mother and daughter being reunited.
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Meter
"Demeter" uses free verse, meaning it has no steady meter. This keeps the poem's language feeling intimate, authentic, and honest. As most contemporary poetry is written in free verse, it also helps make an ancient myth feel more current and relatable. This meter-free language sounds much closer to everyday speech, in turn humanizing Demeter; she sounds like any grieving mother, not just a mythical goddess.
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Rhyme Scheme
For the most part, "Demeter" has no rhyme scheme. This creates a conversational, intimate tone, almost as if Demeter is talking on a therapist's couch.
The poem does, however, save one rhyming couplet for the end:
the blue sky smiling, none too soon,
with the small shy mouth of a new moon.The poem leaves readers with a clear, satisfying end-rhyme, creating a sense of soothing music that reflects Demeter's pleasure at her child's return. Now that mother and daughter are back together, the sounds of the poem fall perfectly into place.
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“Demeter” Speaker
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The speaker of the poem is Demeter, the ancient Greek goddess of agriculture and the harvest (she's also often associated with fertility).
Demeter is the mother of Persephone. According to myth, Hades, god of the underworld, abducted Persephone and made her his bride. The grief-stricken Demeter refused to allow anything to grow until her child was returned to her. Eventually, she and Hades reached a deal: Persephone would spend a portion of the year in the underworld and the rest of the year on earth with her mother. The time Persephone spends with Hades corresponds with winter, while her return to Demeter corresponds with spring and summer.
The poem doesn't mention any specifics about the myth, however, choosing instead to explore the story through the lens of Demeter's love and grief. The poem is less concerned with retelling a classic myth than it is with exploring the deep bond between mother and daughter.
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“Demeter” Setting
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The poem begins in winter, a time when the earth is "hard" and cold and nothing can grow. The barrenness of the earth reflects Demeter's grief: this is the time of year when she's separated from her beloved daughter, Persephone.
About halfway through the poem, however, the world begins to change: the "fields" thaw and the skies grow blue and warm as Persephone makes her way back to her mother. Demeter says that she brings "all spring's flowers / to her mother's house"—that house being the earth itself. This shift in the poem's atmosphere represents Demeter's shifting emotions: she's overjoyed at being reunited with her child, and that joy is reflected in the abundance and beauty of spring.
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Literary and Historical Context of “Demeter”
Literary Context
Carol Ann Duffy is among the most acclaimed and high-profile poets in the contemporary UK. Born in Scotland in 1955, she became the UK's first female poet laureate in 2009 and served in the position for the next 10 years.
"Demeter" was published in Duffy's fifth poetry collection, The World’s Wife (1999). In this collection, Duffy writes from the viewpoints of the wives, sisters, and female contemporaries of famous and infamous men. Some of her characters include Mrs. Pilate, Queen Kong, Mrs. Sisyphus, Frau Freud, Elvis’s Twin Sister, and Pygmalion’s Bride. In witty, conversational language, The World’s Wife subverts traditional male perspectives, examining instead the ways that women's stories have been ignored, overlooked, or misrepresented.
"Demeter" is actually the final poem in this collection, ending the book on a warm and optimistic note that speaks to the nourishing, hopeful power of maternal love. Women caring for each other, the poem's position in the collection suggests, can help counter their mistreatment by a patriarchal world.
Historical Context
Duffy was born in Scotland in 1955 and came of age during second-wave feminism. While early feminism had been focused primarily on securing women's right to vote, second-wave feminism addressed a wider range of issues including reproductive rights, domestic violence, workplace equality, and more. Second-wave feminism was responding to many of the restrictive gender norms of the mid-20th century, including the idea that women's purpose in life was to become demure mothers and wives.
The poem itself takes place in the timeless world of ancient Greek mythology. Demeter's story dates back thousands of years, with many different versions appearing throughout history. The basic gist of the story remains the same, however: Demeter is one of the principal gods in the Greek pantheon, sister to both Zeus and Hades. She's also the goddess of agriculture and the harvest, making her a very important deity to human beings.
Demeter has a daughter with Zeus named Persephone (sibling gods often had children together in Greek myth!). Hades kidnaps Persephone and brings her to the underworld to be his bride. Distraught at the loss of her child, Demeter refuses to let anything grow. With humanity on the brink of famine and death, Zeus helps broker a compromise: Persephone will spend some of the year with Hades in the underworld and some of the year with her mother on earth. This leads to the cycle of the seasons: Persephone's absence coincides with winter and her return with spring.
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More “Demeter” Resources
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External Resources
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Biography of Carol Ann Duffy — Learn more about Duffy's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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Demeter's Mythology — An article tracing the different versions of the Demeter/Persephone myth.
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Duffy on the Power of Poetry — Read an article about Duffy's recent Pandemic Poetry project, in which she discusses how poetry can help people through troubling times.
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The Poem Out Loud — "Demeter" read by the poet herself.
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Persephone on Broadway — Persephone appears as a major character in the Tony-winning Broadway musical "Hadestown." Watch a rendition of her number "Our Lady of the Underground," a song showing a very different side of the goddess.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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