Question

After Perseus kills Medusa, what “hated truth” does he acknowledge about himself? Cite textual evidence to support your answer. Her sleeping head with its great gelid mass serpents torpidly astir burned into the mirroring shield a scathing image dire as hated truth the accepts at last and fester on. I struck. The shield flashed bare. Yet even as I lifted up the head and started from the place of gazing silences and terrored stone, I thirsted to destroy. None could have passed me them no garland-bearing girl, no priest or staring boy-and lived. PLEASE HELP ME!!! ;-;

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

   This poem is about the death of Medusa from Perseus' point of view. It starts off with Medusa sleeping, and Perseus can see her in the mirrored part of his shield. He cuts her head off with his sword, and the shield doesn't show her reflection anymore. Then Perseus takes the head and leaves the cave. As Perseus leaves, he gets angry and feels the need to destroy or kill things. Whenever Perseus passes by someone, he shows them the head and turns them to stone, no matter who they are.

           One example of a literary device in the poem is "serpents torpidly astir". This is an oxymoron because torpidly and astir contradict each other. This quote also adds imagery to the poem, by describing how the snakes move. Another example is "great gelid", which is an alliteration. The tone of the poem starts out calm, as it describes Medusa sleeping, then turns angrier after Perseus cuts Medusa's head off.