Carol Ann Duffy - 2780 Words

Analysis by theme – Carol Ann Duffy CHILDHOOD Notes from â€Å"Originally† Repeatedly returns to the metaphor of childhood as a â€Å"country† – echoes of L.P. Hartley’s â€Å"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. Notion of past being intimately associated with place, and that adulthood is a journey away from it. â€Å"All childhood is an emigration.†/ â€Å"I want our own country†. Fear of being in an alien place as a child reflected in the alienation of adult life. â€Å"I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space and the right place† – Duffy reflects on moving house as a child, and the way she lost her first senses of the world as the became accustomed to somewhere new. â€Å"I stared at the eyes of a blind toy,†¦show more content†¦The mistakes have not made him circumspect or reflective, he has just become increasingly frenzied. The headlines that round off this stanza are demonstrations of the use of sex to sell papers. They refer to a â€Å"PANTIE ROMP† and a â€Å"RENT BOY†. Later, we are told of other stories featuring â€Å"DIPLOMAT IN BED†, â€Å"BONKING† and a politician who is â€Å"A NIGHTCLUB TART†. The arrogance of the narrator seems unbearable when he claims that his work makes him â€Å"a sort of poet/ for our times†. This betrays a lack of understanding of what poetry is. He laments that it is becoming harder to shock his audience and must become increasingly lurid. He wishes to have â€Å"been around when the Titanic sank† purely to write the headlines. He is bereft of compassion and entirely self-serving. The narrator continues his idea of being a â€Å"poet† by confessing he wishes that â€Å"kids will know my headlines off by heart†, as though they were poems taught in schools. Finally, he reflects on â€Å"the poems of the decade†: â€Å"Stuff ‘em!† and â€Å"Gotcha!† In the 1980s these were defining headlines for key cultural moments, but as per the hack’s demand, they have been reduced entirely. Ironically, these have indeed become so well known that few people, certainly of that generation, do not know what they are about. To some extent, by writing the poem, Duffy is complicit in perpetuating them in the popular memory. The final line works as a pun, combining theShow MoreRelated Carol Ann Duffy Essay551 Words   |  3 PagesCarol Ann Duffy Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow on 23rd. December 1965 .she is widely commended as Britains leading female poet. She has studied philosophy at Liverpool University. Her mother was Mary Black, an Irish. And her father was called Frank Duffy. She has four younger brothers. She attended St Austin Roman Catholic Primary School, Stafford from 1962 to 1967, after which she attended St Josephs convent school, Stafford. She was encouraged in poetry by her teacher JuneRead MoreThe Worlds Wife Carol Ann Duffy Analysis1306 Words   |  6 Pages ‘The World’s Wife’ is a collection of poems by Carol Anne Duffy published in 1999. Throughout Duffy’s collection of the poems she represents women from history, myths and fairy tales, particularly those whose stories tend to be defined by men, or who have only a cameo appearance in male-dominated scenarios. ‘The Worlds Wife’ collection explores the themes of sexism, inequality and stereotypes, which women, sadly still face in modern society. In Duffy’s collection some poems look at the story ofRead More Why does Carol Ann Duffy put Little Red Cap at the beginning of the888 Words   |  4 PagesWhy does Carol Ann Duffy put Little Red Cap at the beginning of the collection and Demeter at the end? How effective do you think they are as first and last poems? In Carol Ann Duffy’s collection of poems, â€Å"The Worlds Wife† the first and last poems are vital to the collection. The opening poem must successfully introduce the themes and style of poems in the collection and the final poem should conclude the collection. Little Red Cap successfully introduces themes that are present throughoutRead MoreSummary Of Little Red Cap We See Red By Carol Ann Duffy1309 Words   |  6 PagesAutonomy within David Malouf’s Ransom is represented by the lack of overbearing and constant interference by the gods. Although the characters are bound by fate they are unrestricted in acting within their own free will. In Carol Ann Duffy’s Little Red Cap we see Red’s autonomy by subverting the traditional narrative and giving her control of the tale and fate of the Wolf. The concept that humans possessed their own autonomy over their actions and the opportunities they took was unfathomable conceptRead MoreMedusa by Carol Ann Duffy1862 Words   |  8 PagesThe world’s wife is a compilation of poems published in 1999 and written by Carol Ann Duffy, a modern feminist poet. It covers various myths in order to give women a voice. This includes the short monologue like poem: â€Å"Medusa†. How do metaphors, symbols and allegories contribute in clarifying the meanings of the poem? Primarily, they emphasise Duffy’s feminist ideals, Medusa’s emotions and aging difficulties. Medusa, the protagonist, uses the myth metaphorically in order to create a modern andRead MoreCarol Ann Duffy Valentine1203 Words   |  5 PagesExamine the way Carol Ann Duffy presents relationships in ‘Valentine’. Refer to other poems about relationships in your answer. This essay will be exploring the use of language and imagery in the poem ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy to emphasise certain emotions within the text. This poem refers to the dark side of love and relationships several times, for example; â€Å"Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips.† This creates a different atmosphere to the stereotypical love poems, which are known for theirRead MoreHavisham- Carol Ann Duffy680 Words   |  3 PagesIn her morbid poem Havisham, Carol Ann Duffy redefines one of Charles Dickens most memorable characters, Miss Havisham. Jilted at the alter by her one true love, Dickens portrayed Havisham as an old spinster, her life wasted away trying to gain revenge on all men. Through her dramatic monologue Havisham, Duffy gives the disturbed old woman a voice to express her feelings about her wasted life. One of the themes that I found fascinating in this poem was the idea that a moment of betrayal canRead MoreThe Worlds Wife. Carol Ann Duffy17 21 Words   |  7 PagesHeterosexuality is not normal, it’s just common. (Dorothy Parker) Carol Ann Duffy’s The World’s Wife (1999) takes a very common relationship – that of man and wife – and presents a collection of poetic monologues from the perspective of the wife. Written on the pretext, ‘If his wife could speak, what would she say’, Duffy’s monologues gives a voice to women who are usually defined by their men. Thus we hear from the wives of famous, and infamous, men such as Mrs Darwin, Pilate’s wife, Mrs AesopRead MoreHavisham by Carol Ann Duffy Essay1257 Words   |  6 PagesIn Havisham, Carol Ann Duffy creates an interesting character. Write about the way the character is created, and compare this with the way other characters are created in three other poems. You should compare it with one poem by Simon Armitage and two poems from the pre-1912 poetry bank. In Havisham, Carol Ann Duffy explores the character of Mrs Havisham and develops her by using vivid imagery and metaphors. She starts the poem with ‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’ which is an oxymoron, used to displayRead MoreCarol Ann Duffy Poems Analysis8144 Words   |  33 PagesOriginally Introduction Memories play a significant role in the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy, particularly her recollections of childhood places and events. The poem â€Å"Originally,† published in The Other Country (1990), draws specifically from memories of Duffys familys move from Scotland to England when she and her siblings were very young. The first-born child, Duffy was just old enough to feel a deep sense of personal loss and fear as she traveled farther and farther away from the only place she