LitCharts (2024)

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A satirical tale of revenge, Carol Ann Duffy's "Circe" is a dramatic monologue told from point of view of an enchantress from Greek myth known for turning men into pigs. Duffy's Circe describes, in grisly detail, how she likes to cook these man-pigs and implies that she transformed them as payback for taking advantage of her hospitality. "Circe" was published in Duffy's 1999 collection, The World's Wife, which features poems told from the perspective of the female counterparts of famous male figures from history and myth.

• Read the full text of “Circe”

• “Circe” Summary

• “Circe” Themes

  • 

    Gender, Power, and Control

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-37

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Circe”

  • Lines 1-3

    I'm fond, nereids ...
    ... have been mine—

  • Lines 4-7

    under my thumb, ...
    ... grunts, their squeals.

  • Lines 7-10

    I've stood with ...
    ... of the sky.

  • Lines 11-15

    But I want ...
    ... and cloves.

  • Lines 15-17

    Remember the skills ...
    ... of the face—

  • Lines 17-20

    and how each ...
    ... Season with mace.

  • Lines 21-25

    Well-cleaned pig's ears ...
    ... singing and clear?

  • Lines 25-30

    Mash ...
    ... Dice it small.

  • Lines 30-35

    I, too, once ...
    ... the shallow waves.

  • Lines 36-37

    Of course, I ...
    ... spit once again.

• “Circe” Symbols

  • 

    Cooking the Pigs

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-17: “Lay two pig's cheeks, with the tongue, / in a dish, and strew it well over with salt / and cloves. Remember the skills of the tongue— / to lick, to lap, to loosen, lubricate, to lie / in the soft pouch of the face”
    • Lines 21-25: “Well-cleaned pig's ears should be blanched, singed, tossed / in a pot, boiled, kept hot, scraped, served, garnished / with thyme. Look at that simmering lug, at that ear, / did it listen, ever, to you, to your prayers and rhymes, / to the chimes of your voice, singing and clear?”
    • Lines 27-30: “to the sweetmeats slipped / from the slit, bulging, vulnerable bag of the balls. / When the heart of a pig has hardened, dice it small. / Dice it small.”

• “Circe” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “I'm fond, nereids and nymphs, unlike some, of the pig, / of the tusker, the snout, the boar and the swine.”
    • Lines 30-36: “I, too, once knelt on this shining shore / watching the tall ships sail from the burning sun / like myths; slipped off my dress to wade, / breast-deep, in the sea, waving and calling; / then plunged, then swam on my back, looking up / as three black ships sighed in the shallow waves. / Of course, I was younger then. And hoping for men.”

  • Alliteration

    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “nereids,” “nymphs”
    • Line 2: “snout,” “swine”
    • Line 4: “bristling,” “salty,” “skin,” “backs”
    • Line 7: “squeals,” “stood,” “swill”
    • Line 8: “sty”
    • Line 9: “sweaty,” “spicy,” “moon”
    • Line 10: “mouth,” “sky”
    • Line 16: “lick,” “lap,” “loosen,” “lubricate,” “lie”
    • Line 17: “pouch,” “pig's”
    • Line 18: “cowardly,” “comical”
    • Line 19: “cruel,” “kind”
    • Line 22: “scraped,” “served”
    • Line 23: “lug”
    • Line 24: “listen”
    • Line 26: “beer,” “brains”
    • Line 27: “sweetmeats,” “slipped”
    • Line 28: “slit,” “bulging,” “bag,” “balls”
    • Line 29: “heart,” “hardened”
    • Line 30: “shining,” “shore”
    • Line 31: “ships,” “sail,” “sun”
    • Line 32: “slipped”
    • Line 33: “sea”
    • Line 34: “swam”
    • Line 35: “ships,” “sighed,” “shallow”
    • Line 37: “sizzling,” “spit”

  • Assonance

    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “under,” “thumb,” “bristling,” “skin”
    • Line 5: “nostrils,” “yobby”
    • Line 6: “hogs,” “runts,” “percussion”
    • Line 7: “grunts”
    • Line 8: “dusk,” “gate,” “sty”
    • Line 9: “tasting,” “spicy”
    • Line 10: “sky”
    • Line 16: “loosen,” “lubricate”
    • Line 18: “face,” “brave”
    • Line 19: “kind”
    • Line 20: “eyes”
    • Line 21: “tossed”
    • Line 22: “pot,” “hot”
    • Line 23: “thyme”
    • Line 24: “rhymes”
    • Line 25: “chimes,” “clear”
    • Line 26: “beer”
    • Line 27: “trotters,” “chops,” “sweetmeats,” “slipped”
    • Line 28: “slit,” “bulging,” “vulnerable”
    • Line 29: “heart,” “hardened”
    • Line 32: “myths,” “slipped”
    • Line 33: “deep,” “sea”
    • Line 34: “back”
    • Line 35: “black”
    • Line 36: “then,” “men”
    • Line 37: “pig,” “spit,” “again”

  • Imagery

    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5
    • Lines 6-10
    • Lines 13-15
    • Lines 16-17
    • Lines 21-23
    • Line 25
    • Lines 27-28
    • Lines 30-35
    • Line 37

  • Simile

    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-10: “the moon / like a lemon popped in the mouth of the sky.”
    • Lines 31-32: “watching the tall ships sail from the burning sun / like myths;”

    See Also

    LitCharts

  • Pun

    Where pun appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “under my thumb,” “the bristling, salty skin of their backs,”
    • Lines 11-13: “But I want to begin with arecipe from abroad / which uses the cheek—and the tongue in cheek / at that.”
    • Lines 16-17: “to lie / in the soft pouch of the face”
    • Line 20: “Season with mace.”
    • Line 23: “Look at that simmering lug,”

  • Anaphora

    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “of the pig, / of the tusker, the snout, the boar and the swine.”
    • Line 5: “their yobby, porky colognes.”
    • Lines 6-7: “their percussion of oinks / and grunts, their squeals”
    • Line 8: “at dusk, at the creaky gate of the sty”
    • Line 16: “to lick, to lap, to loosen, lubricate, to lie”
    • Lines 18-19: “the cowardly face, the brave, the comical, noble / sly or wise, the cruel, the kind”
    • Line 23: “Look at that simmering lug, at that ear”
    • Line 24: “to you, to your prayers”
    • Line 25: “to the chimes of your voice”
    • Lines 26-27: “Now to the brains, / to the trotters”
    • Line 27: “to the sweetmeats”
    • Line 34: “then plunged, then swam on my back”

  • Asyndeton

    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “under my thumb, the bristling, salty skin of their backs, / in my nostrils here, their yobby, porky colognes.”
    • Lines 6-7: “I'm familiar with thehogs and runts, their percussion of oinks / and grunts, their squeals.”
    • Lines 7-10: “I've stood with a pail of swill / at dusk, at the creaky gate of the sty, / tasting the sweaty, spicy air, the moon / like a lemon popped in the mouth of the sky.”
    • Lines 16-17: “to lick, to lap, to loosen, lubricate, to lie / in the soft pouch of the face”
    • Lines 18-19: “the cowardly face, the brave, the comical, noble / sly or wise, the cruel, the kind,”
    • Lines 21-23: “Well-cleaned pig's ears should be blanched, singed, tossed / in a pot, boiled, kept hot, scraped, served, garnished / with thyme.”
    • Lines 23-25: “Look at that simmering lug, at that ear, / did it listen, ever, to you, to your prayers and rhymes, / to the chimes of your voice, singing and clear?”
    • Lines 26-28: “Now to the brains, / to the trotters, shoulders, chops, to the sweetmeats slipped / from the slit, bulging, vulnerable bag of the balls.”

  • Onomatopoeia

    Where onomatopoeia appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “percussion of oinks / and grunts, their squeals.”

  • Rhetorical Question

    Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

    • Lines 23-25: “Look at that simmering lug, at that ear, / did it listen, ever, to you, to your prayers and rhymes, / to the chimes of your voice, singing and clear?”

  • Repetition

    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 12: “the cheek—and the tongue in cheek”
    • Line 13: “Lay two pig's cheeks, with the tongue,”
    • Line 15: “Remember the skills of the tongue—”
    • Lines 17-18: “in the soft pouch of the face—and how each pig's face / the cowardly face”
    • Lines 29-30: “dice it small. / Dice it small.”

• “Circe” 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.

  • Nereids and nymphs
  • The tusker, the snout, the boar and the swine
  • Bristling
  • Yobby
  • Hogs
  • Runts
  • Percussion
  • Pail of swill
  • Sty
  • Tongue in cheek
  • Strew
  • Lubricate
  • Mace
  • Blanched
  • Singed
  • Lug
  • Trotters
  • Sweetmeats
  • Baste
  • Spit

  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “I'm fond, nereids and nymphs, unlike some, of the pig,”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Circe”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Circe” Speaker

• “Circe” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Circe”

• More “Circe” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A History of the Dramatic Monologue— An overview of the dramatic monologue (a form Duffy often turns to in her poetry) and how it has been used over time.

    • A Look at the Poet's Life— A brief biography of Duffy from the Poetry Foundation.

    • A Review of The World's Wife— Author Jeanette Winterson reviews The World's Wife, the collection in which "Circe" was published.

    • An Introduction to the Circe of Greek Myth— Check out a video explainingCirce's role in Greek mythology.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Darwin

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Icarus

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Pope Joan

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Quickdraw

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • The Good Teachers

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work