In this episode of Words That Burn, I take a closer look at Ophelia’s Head Is Finished by the brilliant poet Olga Dermott-Bond—a haunting and layered ekphrastic response to John Everett Millais’ iconic painting Ophelia. Inspired by a chilling epigraph from one of Millais’ 1852 letters, the poem invites us to reconsider what lies beneath the surface of this romanticised artwork, and to centre the overlooked woman at its heart: Elizabeth Siddal.
As I explore the poem stanza by stanza, I reflect on its gothic tone, its critique of the Pre-Raphaelite obsession with beauty, and the physical toll of artistic creation on real women. The lines between Siddal and Shakespeare’s Ophelia, between art history and lived experience, begin to blur—and what emerges is a powerful meditation on agency, endurance, and the quiet violence of expectation.
Throughout the episode, I talk about the tradition of ekphrasis—poetry inspired by visual art—and how Dermott-Bond uses it not just to interpret but to reclaim. If you’re curious about the intersections between poetry, painting, feminism, and forgotten voices, I think you’ll get a lot out of this one.
00:00 The Poem
01:26 Welcome to Words That Burn
01:41 Context and Epigraph Analysis
02:34 Exploring the Poem's Themes
03:06 Historical Context of Ophelia
12:20 The Pre-Raphaelite Movement
13:49 Elizabeth Siddal's Story
15:01 Analysing the Poem's Stanzas
25:33 The Final Stanza and Conclusion
Resources & Links:
The Story Behind Ophelia by Kelly Richman-Abdou
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The Music In This Week's Episode:
‘Meanwhile’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
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