The Full Text of “Pygmalion's Bride”
The Full Text of “Pygmalion's Bride”
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Introduction
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Summary
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Themes
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Male Desire, Dominance, and Control
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-38
- Lines 50-51
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Gender & Sexual Hypocrisy
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-51
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Pygmalion's Bride”
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Lines 1-3
Cold, I was, ...
... but he did. -
Lines 4-8
He kissed my ...
... my marbled eyes. -
Lines 9-13
He spoke— ...
... stone-deaf shells. -
Lines 14-16
I heard the ...
... heard him shout. -
Lines 17-22
He brought me presents, ...
... girly things. -
Lines 23-25
He ran his ...
... played statue, shtum. -
Lines 26-33
He let his ...
... scrape, no scar. -
Lines 34-38
He propped me ...
... talked white black. -
Lines 39-43
So I changed ...
... began to moan, -
Lines 44-49
got hot, got ...
... all an act. -
Lines 50-51
And haven't seen ...
... Simple as that.
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Symbols
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The Statue
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Cold, I was, like snow, like ivory.”
- Lines 4-8: “He kissed my stone-cool lips. / I lay still / as though I'd died. / He stayed. / He thumbed my marbled eyes.”
- Lines 12-15: “My ears were sculpture, / stone-deaf shells. / I heard the sea. / I drowned him out.”
- Lines 19-20: “I didn't blink, / was dumb.”
- Lines 24-25: “I didn't shrink, / played statue, shtum.”
- Line 28: “I would not bruise.”
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 4: “stone”
- Line 5: “still”
- Line 7: “stayed”
- Line 12: “sculpture”
- Line 13: “stone”
- Line 14: “sea”
- Line 17: “presents, polished pebbles”
- Line 18: “bells”
- Line 19: “blink”
- Line 24: “shrink”
- Line 25: “shtum”
- Line 26: “fingers,” “flesh”
- Line 33: “scratch,” “scrape,” “scar”
- Line 34: “propped,” “pillows”
- Line 40: “warm,” “wax”
- Line 50: “seen,” “since”
- Line 51: “Simple”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 1: “I,” “like,” “like”
- Line 2: “I”
- Line 4: “kissed,” “lips”
- Line 5: “still”
- Line 6: “I'd died”
- Line 13: “deaf shells”
- Line 15: “drowned,” “out”
- Line 16: “shout”
- Line 17: “presents,” “pebbles”
- Line 18: “bells”
- Line 21: “pearls”
- Line 22: “girly”
- Line 23: “ran,” “clammy hands”
- Line 26: “let,” “fingers sink,” “flesh”
- Line 29: “marks”
- Line 30: “hearts”
- Line 31: “stars”
- Line 40: “candle wax”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Cold, I,” “was, like,” “snow, like”
- Line 10: “endearments, what”
- Line 17: “presents, polished”
- Line 25: “statue, shtum”
- Line 27: “squeezed, he”
- Line 31: “stars, for”
- Line 33: “scratch, no,” “scrape, no”
- Line 36: “ice, was”
- Line 37: “gravel, hoarse”
- Line 40: “warm, like”
- Line 42: “soft, was”
- Line 44: “hot, got”
- Line 45: “arched, coiled, writhed”
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Colloquialism
Where colloquialism appears in the poem:- Lines 22-22: “He called them / girly things.”
- Line 25: “played statue, shtum.”
- Line 35: “jawed all night.”
- Line 39: “So I changed tack,”
- Line 44: “got hot, got wild,”
- Line 48: “screamed my head off—”
- Line 51: “Simple as that.”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 12-13: “My ears were sculpture, / stone-deaf shells.”
- Lines 29-31: “He looked for marks, / for purple hearts, / for inky stars, for smudgy clues.”
- Line 32: “His nails were claws.”
- Line 36: “My heart was ice, was glass.”
- Line 37: “His voice was gravel, hoarse.”
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Line 1: “Cold, I was, like snow, like ivory.”
- Line 40: “grew warm, like candle wax,”
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“Pygmalion's Bride” 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.
- Ivory
- Blunt
- Endearments
- Dumb
- Clammy
- Shtum
- Jawed
- Changed tack
- Pliable
- Writhed
- Climax
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(Location in poem: Line 1: “Cold, I was, like snow, like ivory.”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Pygmalion's Bride”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Speaker
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“Pygmalion's Bride” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Pygmalion's Bride”
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More “Pygmalion's Bride” Resources
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External Resources
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About the Poet — Learn more about Carol Ann Duffy's life and work by reading this short biography, courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
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On the Myth of Pygmalion and Galatea — Read about the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea and its subsequent adaptations in this brief reference entry, courtesy of Encyclopedia Brittanica.
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“Pygmalion and Galatea” by Jean-Léon Gérôme — Visualize the poem using this famous artistic rendition of Pygmalion and Galatea by French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme.
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Ovid's Pygmalion and the Statue — Read an early version of the story of Pygmalion and his statue from Ovid's Metamorphoses, as translated by A.S. Kline.
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An Interview with Duffy — In this interview with the Independent, Carol Ann Duffy discusses The World's Wife shortly after its publication.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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