In the poem Medusa, Sylvia Plath uses the horrible Medusa as a comparison for her mother. In the Greek myth Medusa uses her beautiful locks and appearance to sway men which in the end causes her to loose her beauty, so now instead of swaying men she would turn them into stone. When Plath writes, "Off that landspit of stony mouth-plugs,Eyes rolled by white sticks,Ears cupping the sea's incoherences, You house your unnerving head-God-ball, Lens of mercies" she is making an obvious comparison between Medusa's features and power and that of her mother. Throughout the poem Plath uses quite a bit of assonance and consonance, for example in lines, "riding the rip tide to the nearest point of departure," "in any case, you are always there," and "squeezing the breath from blood bells" through this Plath allows for some alliteration to be put into the poem. While reading through the poem it can be noted that it jumps back and forth between images of Medusa and images of her mother. Plath also uses religious imagery such as "A Communion wafer? Bluberry Mary?" this is yet another way to describe her mother. Towards the end of the poem her mother is linked to Medusa again "Hiss at my sins. Off, off, eely tentacle!" this relates to Medusa because it talks about her snake hair and how unwanted it was. Overall, Plath uses several devices to compare her mother to Medusa, however bad or good that may be.