stanza 1

• “late September. I’d just poured a glass of wine, begun to unwind”

  • Word choice: suggests a relaxed nonchalant domesticity - ready to create a juxtaposition to what will follow.
• ”The kitchen filled with the smell of itself, relaxed, it’s steamy breath”

  • The kitchen is personified to bring the domestic setting to life
• ”my fingers wiped the other’s glass like a brow”

  • Simile: connotations of heat in the kitchen
  • Prolepsis: a sign of her future exasperation
• “snapping a twig“

  • Use of present tense verb (onomatopoeia) ‘snapping’ seems to change the atmosphere
  • Violence of the word is surprising to the reader, we are intrigued by Mr Midas’ actions