In the poem Medusa, Louise Bogan uses Medusa to discuss a trauma in her life which became frozen in time, just like people get turned into stone when ever they look into Medusa's eyes. In the first stanza, it can be interpreted that a traumatic experience caused her to feel as if the world was spinning around her, she was aware of it, but she couldn't move, she is stunned by what has happened. Medusa is first introduced by the lines "When the bare eyes were before me, And the hissing hair" this refers to Medusa as being nude and just plain ugly, basically, she is a sight for sore eyes. In the myth Perseus kills Medusa by chopping her head off and then holding it up for all to see this is also implied in lines, "Held up at a window, seen through a door. The still bald eyes, the serpents on the forehead, Formed in the air," Bogan describes how Medusa's was held up for everyone to look at without being turned into stone. Throughout the poem Bogan uses a lot of imagery to convey the surroundings and the sight of Medusa. Medusa was as ugly and horrible as the event that happened to Louise Bogan.