Carol Ann Duffy uses various different types of tones in order to portray Mrs. Sisyphus’ feelings about her husband. For instance, Duffy reveals her feelings of anger and annoyance for her husband through the use of a furious tone in the first line of the poem, ‘That’s him pushing the stone up the hill, the jerk’. Through the use of ‘jerk’, Duffy displays that Mrs. Sisyphus is comfortable with referring to her husband with insulting names (such as ‘jerk’ and ‘dork’), therefore, portraying the lack of intimacy in their relationship as well as the fact that she does not respect her husband. Duffy uses another type of tone, which is an aggressive tone when Mrs. Sisyphus says, ‘He’s a dork’. This is to emphasize the neglect, thus, hinting at the loss of intimacy between them. Moreover, towards the end of the poem, Duffy uses a desolate tone when Mrs. Sisyphus, ‘lies alone in the dark, feeling like Noah’s wife did, when he hammered away at the Ark’. This suggests that Mrs. Sisyphus, herself feels isolated and neglected by her husband due to the actions he takes. Through the use of different tones, Duffy reveals the neglect from both sides of the relationship, therefore, portraying that both are unhappy with their relationship and one part of it is just the lack of intimacy.