Category: Carol Ann Duffy

Both the ‘Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team’ and ‘Stafford Afternoons’ written by Carol Ann Duffy explore their respective characters’ past written in said characters’ perspectives. In the Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team, Duffy impersonates someone who’s life peaked in the past which makes him insecure of his current situation and longs to return to that time, while ‘Stafford Afternoons’ focuses on a woman who is trying to escape her memory of her childhood where she was traumatized by a pervert.

The two poems have a lot of similarities in terms of narrative view, form, and structure, as they are both first-person narrations of memories from the past. The only difference here is that Stafford Afternoons is although a first-person narration, it tells the story of a chain of actions, while the Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team is a dramatic monologue in the form of a one-sided conversation.

An example to this ‘conversation’ in the Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form team can be found in the first stanza when the narrator, the Captain, seems to be addressing someone in the line “I can give you the B-side of the Supremes one” with “you” probably referring to anybody reading the poem.

Another glaring similarity between the poems is in their poetic structure, as both follow a blank verse without any rhymes. Both poems were written by Carol Ann Duffy and are both narrative poems, possessing a chain of actions. Thus, it could be argued, that the blank verse was used as a technique by Ann Duffy to create a more realistic feel and focus on showing a piece of a person’s life rather than some magical story. This kind of poetic structure was very popular at the time and was employed by various other contemporaries of Carol Ann Duffy, such as Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes.

Where the two poems are structurally different is in the size of each poem’s stanzas. While The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team is made up of four octets, Stafford Afternoons is a poem with a loosely Iambic pentameter consisting of six quatrains.

The last stanzas in Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team and the last two stanzas of Stafford Afternoons are both significant, as those are both the ‘finale’ of their respective narrative, as well as the change in narrative tense. This means that both poems change their narration of the story from the past to the present. With the Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team, the narrator opens the last stanza stating he “wants it back”. This statement is in the present tense to express that the last stanza is no longer a memory, but the present, as the now grown man brings up random facts to his wife, his boss, his children and really everyone around him, as if he is missing the time when he was respected for his achievements at the Top of the Form team. This is further evidenced in the lines where the narrator voices his resentment of his life and family, calling his children ‘thick’ and his wife ‘stale’. The fifth stanza of Stafford Afternoons, on the other hand, stays in past-tense, however, the action is sped up from the almost dream-like narrative of ‘blurred’ images as objects stop ‘dwindling away’ and actions become more real as the sight of the ‘long-haired man’ made ‘sound rush back’.

The imagery in both poems suggests symbols of memories of childhood remaining from the past. In Stafford afternoons, this imagery of adulthood in the eyes of a child is described in the line “I waved at windscreens, oddly hurt by the blurred waves back, the speed” as the blurred speed of cars is a metaphor to the rush, complexity and dangers of the coming adulthood and the future, as attempting to leap in the middle of adult life as a child would be just as dangerous as jumping in front of speeding cars. This danger is revisited during the third and fourth stanzas when the girl discovers a patch of woods, where through personification, even the trees “drew sly faces from light and shade” suggesting that the narrator remembers this memory as of something horrible that happened. The reason for this maliciousness was later revealed that the narrator was flashed by a “long-haired man” holding a “purple root” which is a metaphor to a particularly ugly specimen of male genitalia. The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team also explores memories of childhood, but instead of describing it as something surrounded by sinister forests and “long-haired” men flashing their “living, purple root” to children, it remembers the childhood past in a much more positive, nostalgic way. This nostalgia is shown throughout the poem as the narrator would talk about how he used to be ‘brainy’, ‘famous’ and other characteristics of positive nature. This would suggest that the ‘Captain’ was nostalgic about his younger years and he is still stuck in that past.

The sounds and phonology of the two poems are vastly different, as the Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team is much more ‘snappy’ and ‘quick’ which is either stressed by enjambment between the lines as seen in the first three lines of the first stanza or sometimes by quick, snappy sentences as seen between the lines “I can give you the B-side of the Supremes one.” and “Convent girls.”

Meanwhile, Stafford Afternoons has a much slower rhythm as the narrator has no motivation to attempt to look “quick-witted” but rather prefers to tell her narrative of the day where she was traumatized.

The Captain of the Top of the Form Team has multiple sentences that are interrupted by other thoughts, such as in the line where the character talks about how he would “spend down Dyke hill” with his bike when he was younger, which is suddenly interrupted by the Latin words “dominus, domine, dominum”. It could be argued that this has been done to create an effect referred to as a “stream of consciousness” and is meant to show us the way this character constantly jumps between his thinking process and the random facts he had learned for the “Top of the Form” quiz show also shown in “Dave Dee Dozy … try me. Come on”. It could be argued that the ‘Captain’ was not just conditioned into uttering these facts during his activities in “Top of the Form” but this knowledge makes him feel somehow superior to others as he is bragging about his knowledge shown by asyndetic listing of facts that have seemingly nothing to do with each other, such as in the lines “The Nile rises in April. Blue and white. The humming-bird’s song is made by its wings, which beat so fast that they blur in flight” or bragging about how “brainy” or intelligent he looks in the third stanza. Some of the facts he brings up are very dated, such as the line ‘Name the prime Minister of Rhodesia. (…) How many florins in a pound?’ as neither the country of Rhodesia nor florins exist in the current world. This could be interpreted as evidence to the idea mentioned before that the character is stuck in the past, unable to understand that most of the dated knowledge he accumulated lost its relevance, further reinforcing the feeling of a lost past in the reader’s mind.

In conclusion, although both are about people being prisoners of their past as the two personalities vastly differ in both their view of their respective past and themselves, which is expressed by the differences in the structure, narrative view, and rhythm of the poems as well as through their differences in imagery describing the settings and actions. It could be argued that the reason Stafford Afternoons seems more ominous and nihilistic is that unlike with Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team, the events taken place were traumatic instead of nostalgic.

Modern poets have pushed past societal norms, and have given themselves the platform to conquer and challenge topics and issues in regards to racism, class division and sexuality. Two poets who have interrogated traditional concepts of gender, include Sylvia Plath and Carol Ann Duffy. Their questioning of female/male relationships, and the misogyny involved challenges society’s patriarch structure, and showcase the female thought process. This essay will analyse Plath’s poem ‘Daddy’, and Duffy’s poem ‘Standing Female Nude’, and their success in interrogating traditional concepts to gender.

Firstly, Plath’s quintin poem ‘Daddy’, highlights the suffocation females have been subjected to in the patriarch society, allowing the female perspective to be heard. In stanza one the reader is first introduced to who the speaker is talking about, and how this speaker ‘father figure’ is dead. The reader is shown through Plath’s use of repetition when she writes ‘You do not do, you do not do’ (line 1, Daddy), that her father does nothing ‘you don’t do’, because he is dead. The reader becomes aware of this tense father-daughter relationship, when Plath writes ‘black shoe’ (line 2, Daddy), which is then further extended when Plath writes ‘I have lived like a foot’ (line 3, Daddy), her use of the metaphoric ‘black shoe’, and the simile ‘like a foot’ to display how she feels like a foot, captures how she has felt trapped and suffocated in that shoe. The extent of the captured feeling, is extended when Plath writes ‘thirty years, poor and white/ (line 4, Daddy), the speaker feels suffocated with no escape, by this black shoe, which is metaphor for her father. The black shoe metaphor, could also be in reference to the overall suffocation of females in a male dominated society, feeling repressed and not being heard. The speaker’s feelings of suffocation and repression, are intensified in the final line of stanza one, when Plath writes ‘…breathe or Achoo’ (line 5, Daddy) her use of onomatopoeic language, creates a sensory image for the reader, that effectively portrays how the speaker was also, too afraid to sneeze near her father. Stanza one creates an opening for the one, that sets up an intense, fearful relationship between the speaker and her father, which symbolises traditional gender inequality concepts. This adheres to Sharma’s idea that;

‘Plath’s poem Daddy expresses her feelings of oppression from her childhood and conjures the struggle many women face in a male-dominated society. The conflict of this poem is male authority versus the right of a female to control her own life and be free from male domination…. Plath may not only be talking story of her father but of the patriarchal society in which she lives’. (Sharma, 2014:142)

Furthermore, in stanza two, the reader is made aware of how fearful the speaker was of her father, as she admits to wanting to kill him, ‘I have had to kill you’, (line 6, Daddy), but her father died before she could kill him. Plath’s inclusion of the speakers most inner thoughts, shows the effects of suffocation, and abuse and treated insignificant; controversially, perhaps women who were repressed, often thought these thoughts too, that to kill they would finally be free from their abusers. Her cold and non-remorseful feelings towards wanting to kill her father, are echoed when she compares her father to ‘a bag full of God/ ghastly statue with one gray toe/ Big as Frisco sea!’ (lines 8,9,10, Daddy) her metaphoric comparison of her father to a statue, suggests how he had no capacity to feel, hard and empty like a statue and was a large figure looming over her life.

In addition, stanza four and five is based around where the speakers father is from and how his hometown suffered ‘wars, wars, wars’(line18, Daddy), perhaps the fathers coldness is a condition for the horror he may have seen; which is a traditional gendered concept, that men become withdrawn and cold. The speaker’s tense relationship with her father is further emphasised when Plath writes, ‘I could never talk to you’ (line 24, Daddy), she couldn’t speak to him as ‘The tongue stuck in my jaw’ (line 25, Daddy). Plath’s use of physical visual imagery, displays how the speaker’s fear would physically not allow her to speak, which also resembles how women felt in the 60s; too scared to speak out. In stanza seven, the speaker begins her metaphoric description of her father, when she compares him to German father, not unlike Hitler. The speaker feels that she is like a Jew, ‘Chuffing me off like a Jew/ I began to talk like a Jew/ I think I may well be a Jew’ (lines 32,34,35, Daddy) through Plath’s similes, the speaker feels like she is being oppressed just as the Jews were during the Holocaust; she compares her life under suffocation, like Jews in Auschwitz. In this stanza, Plath also uses an end rhyme scheme, when she writes ‘true/Jew’, there is no fixed rhyme scheme in this poem, apart from this.

In addition, in stanza ten, the speaker compares her father to a ‘swastika so black no sky could squeak through’ (line 46, 47, Daddy) Plath’s metaphor suggests the speaker’s father’s darkness or controlling suffocation acts even cover the sky, smothering her from above. This could be symbolic of how a male dominated society has infiltrated the world, covering the sky could equate to the world, and all women over the world are being oppressed. The speaker’s dark portrayal of her father is further expanded when Plath writes ‘a cleft in your chin instead of your foot’ (line 53, Daddy), a cleft foot is usually associated when describing the devil; she views her father as the devil, and his darkness is further explored when Plath ‘the black man’, which refers to his moral and attitudes as being dark, not his race.

In stanza twelve, the speaker admits to trying to take her own life, when Plath writes, ‘At twenty I tried to die/ And get back, back, back to you’ (lines 58, 59, Daddy) her use of repetition, juxtaposes, previous ideas, as she wanted to die to be with her father again. This creates a three-dimensional speaker for the reader, as she may be scared and hate her father, but once loved him and is sad about his passing. When Plath writes, ‘I made a model of you/ A man in black with a Meinkampf look’ (lines 64, 65, Daddy), the speakers direct address to her father, displays that because she survived, she is going reanimate her father in a partner. Somebody who is Hitler like, and has similar toxic traits of her father. In the next stanza when Plath writes, ‘I have killed one man, I’ve killed two’ (line 71, Daddy) the speaker didn’t kill her father, but she is considering killing her husband, who is like her father; in sense killing two men. The speaker refers to her husband as ‘the vampire who said he was you/ and drank my blood for a year’ (lines 72, 73, Daddy) Plath’s metaphor, describes the speaker’s husband as an energy draining, abusive vampire who is worse than her father. Throughout the poem, Plath has used metaphorical language to describe the speaker’s father and now husband, which is also symbolic of female oppression in a male dominated society.

In the final stanza, the reader is made aware that the speaker’s father now lives on in the speaker’s husband as energy draining, immortal vampire. When Plath writes, ‘a stake through your fat black heart/ And the villagers never liked you. They are stamping o you/ they always knew it was you’ (lines 76,77,78,79, Daddy)

Her use of violent imagery, suggests how the speaker may have to kill her father like how a vampire may be killed. Referring to the villagers, the speaker suggests the people around her and her family may have suspected he was a Nazi or vampire. In the final line Plath writes, ‘Daddy, Daddy, you bastard, I’m through’ (line 80, Daddy), her repetitive use of ‘daddy’ creates a tonal shift where the speaker concludes that she accepts her father was a ‘bastard’, and can let go of him, and finally be ‘through’ with his toxic memory. The overall concept of Plath’s poem can be argued to be symbolic of female oppression, and the toxicity a male dominated society in which Plath was present for.

Similarly, Duffy’s ‘Standing Female Nude’, also interrogates traditional gender concepts, in regards to representations of women, and also displays the inequalities of class division. The poem is about a young female model, and how modelling nude is how she can only make money. The speaker displays how she knows she is being used just for money for the painter, that she is being objectified. Duffy includes some historical references when she refers to ‘Georges’ (line 15, Standing Female Nude), which was inspired by Georges Braques’ 1908 ‘Big Nude’ painting.

Moreover, in stanza one, Duffy creates a contemptuous, cynical tone when she writes, ‘Six hours…for a few francs’ (line one, Standing Female Nude) the use of ‘francs’ displays the historical period in which this poem is set in, and also the speaker makes it known to the reader, through her conversational language that she acts as a nude model, not for art, but as a means to survive. The means for survival is echoed in the final stanza, when the speaker asks the artist, ‘why do you do this? Because I have to’ (line 22,23, Standing Female Nude). Duffy’s use of conversational language, creates a space where the speaker and artist discuss why they both are used for the creation of ‘art’, and both are similar that it is for survival. Furthermore, when Duffy writes ‘Belly nipple arse in the window light, he drains the colour from me’ (lines 2,3 Standing Female Nude) her use of present, continuous writing, creates a live flow to the poem, as the painter metaphorically drains the colour from the speaker, onto the canvas. However, Duffy is eluding that the painter holds more power over the speaker, in terms of traditional gender concepts; he holds the power and is slowly draining her of her power, reducing her to nothing more than a ‘river whore’. The speaker then tries to somewhat make herself feel better, from the ‘to be still’, comment form the painter, which reminds her the lengths she’s going to for money. When Duffy writes ‘I shall be represented analytically and hung in great museums/ The bourgeoise will coo’ (lines 5,6, Standing Female Nude), the speaker is making reference to how the rich will just ‘coo’ at the art and move on, without appreciation the hardship that artists have gone through. Duffy’s use of the word ‘bourgeoise’ reflects to the reader, Karl Marx’s dedication to the works of class divisions, and how many artists were of lower-class divisions, who were unrecognised in their present time, but people made millions of their work, after they died. The rich are represented as not understanding art, but yet having the power to ironically ‘call it Art’, because of their wealth and stature, they have the ability to make something popular. By Duffy mentioning the Queen of England, she is symbolically referencing the highest level of rich and bourgeoise. The speaker laughs at the idea of the Queen making remarks on the painter’s art, which is her nude body. Not only is she objectified in terms of being a woman, she is only objectified because she is poor, and doesn’t have the comfort of money like the Queen.

Furthermore, the speaker is presented as being vulnerable when Duffy writes, ‘He is concerned with volume, space/ I with the next meal. You’re getting thin, Madame… breasts hang slightly low, the studio is cold’ (lines 8,9,10, 11 Standing Female Nude)

Duffy uses the speaker and painter relationship here, to emphasises the unbalanced power; the painter doesn’t view her as a person, only as a mean for money. The painter mentions she has lost weight, which reflects that this isn’t the first time she has stood nude for him. The painter simply uses her as an object for art and only cares she has lost weight as it distorts his idea of ‘art’. Duffy evokes a great sense of pity and sadness within the reader, as if the speaker is thinner, it implies she isn’t getting money for food. The power imbalance is further explored when Duffy writes ‘and stiffens for my warmth’ (line 17, Standing Female Nude), her use of double entendre, implies that the painter loses concentrations and is sexually stimulated by her figure; this presents him as solely not an artist, that is purely painting for art. However, in the final stanza, the speaker regains some of her power when Duffy writes ‘Little man, you’ve not got the money for the arts I sell’, (lines 19, 20, Standing Female Nude) her use of a belittling tonal shift, implies that the speaker feels she is better than the painter, as she has the figure that sells paintings making the money; without her the painter has no muse and poorer than her. Danette Dimarco writes,

‘The sexual metaphors invoke the tradition whereby it was common for the male artist to take his model for a mistress, but the model then enlists eco- nomics to preclude such a ‘free ride.’ Moreover, although her own financial situation might require that she be ‘possessed’ on canvas, she knows that she cannot be physically conquered, and to this effect she also cleverly invokes the Freudian Oedipal taboo – ‘Men think of their mothers.’ In a final turn of sorts, she then assumes authority by telling Georges that ultimately, he is poorer than she, reminding us that both she and the artist depend on her modelling for survival, be it aesthetic or economic’ (DIMARCO, DANETTE. 1998)

The speaker now sees that her and the painter are equally poor, and working for money which does not make the male painter more powerful than her. She reflects her new found power, when Duffy writes ‘My smile confuses him….with wine and dance around the bars ’ (line 24,26 Standing Female Nude) her use of frequent caesural pauses in the final stanza, and in this sentence, helps to display the contrast between the artist who takes himself too seriously, and the speaker who has fun in her life; she regains more power, which empowers her nude painting, this interrogating traditional concepts of gender.

However, the speaker’s feelings of power, are reversed in the final line when Duffy writes, ‘It does not look like me’ (line 28, Standing Female Nude) her use of syntax, adds a sharpness and coldness, as the speaker realises the painter hasn’t painted her at all, but painted what he wanted from her. It leaves the speaker exposed and vulnerable. Duffy crated this final tonal shift, at the end of the poem, to perhaps reflect the danger with a power imbalance in different gender relationships and could be using this as symbolic of females of her time, who felt used and distorted by males who held the power.

In conclusion, Plath’s ‘Daddy’ and Duffy’s ‘Standing Female Nude’, showcase female suppression and objectification through the use of poetic techniques, and using their own personal lives to draw from. By displaying so bluntly, the outdated view of the place of a woman in this world, they leave room for the reader to question and interrogate the traditional concepts of gender.

Carol Ann Duffy analyses society’s attitude to women in ‘The Diet’ and throughout Feminine Gospels, connecting it to other poems in the collection. The poet explores themes through an extended metaphor of society’s pressures and the effects it has on women such as isolation, loss of identity and loss of control. A variety of literary techniques are used to convey themes of feminism and the struggles of womanhood as ‘She starved on, stayed in, stared in the mirror, svelter, slimmer’ the use of sibilance is showing the change and transformation of the woman written in third person, which can also represent all women who diet and suffer.

In ‘The Diet’, the character is anonymous reflecting how the protagonist is unrecognisable in herself and emphasises the themes of loss of identity throughout. The narrator presents the character as lost as she is ‘looking for a home’, the noun ‘home’ shows to us how she doesn’t belong in this society because of the stigma built against women needing to look a particular way. It’s a common social attitude conveyed by the media that women should look a certain way like ‘the width of a stick’ and be a certain weight and behave in certain way. The imagery of the women’s weight dehumanises her, comparing her to an object which reflects how women get treated in modern day society. Duffy conveys society’s ideas of how women should look ‘doll-sized, the height of a thimble’ by using personification throughout, this emphasises the struggles of women to fit in society, consumed and trapped to look a certain way that women end up destroying themselves and losing who they are. A semantic field of death is created by the writer as the ‘skeleton preened’ which emphasises a loss of identity and she had ‘guns for hips’. The noun ‘gun’ is connotated to killing which society is accepting her efforts to be slim, accepting she could die from the pressure of the media. The writer conveys how society’s pressures lead to harmful outcomes resulting in losing themselves mentally and physically as ‘she was eight stone, by the end of the month, she was skin and bone’ the sibilance throughout the poem emphasises to the readers the dramatic skin loss or the constant pressure of the media/society to be thinner. The oxymoron of ‘anorexia’s true daughter’, contrasts motherhood to the deadly eating disorder, showing her family have even disowned her by and took away her identity. Additionally, in Duffy’s ‘Tall’, the character has lost their identity and society has given her a new name based on her appearance of being tall, her faults have become her new name and identity, which result in losing herself because ‘Taller Was colder, aloner, no wiser’, the adjectives emphasise the negative effects society has on women.

Duffy presents the lack of control women have in society in ‘The Diet’ through the energetic pace which is emphasised by the use of caesuras which is symbolic of the character spiralling out of control. The woman loses herself as ‘the diet worked like a dream’, this simile suggests to the readers that this is more of society’s dream for women to be slim and be as small as possible but the dramatic irony would be readers knowing it’s a nightmare. Duffy link’s society’s attitudes as a fairy-tale through a variety of language methods such as metaphors and similes. The mocking tone indicates that this isn’t reality, and raises questions, did the diet work? Society has restricted women to be a certain way by not allowing ‘No sugar, salt, dairy, protein, starch or alcohol’, this list of restrictions could be metaphoric to society’s restrictions on women’s independence and how they should behave. The internal rhyme and listing used by Duffy adds a fast and purposely irritating tone, which ironic because the problem is the reality of society and it adds to a sense of fantasy. Despite slimming down, and losing all the weight like society wanted, the anonymous women still is perceived as disgusting as she ‘lay in the tent of a nostril like a germ’, the noun ‘germ’ connotates disease and how contagious society’s stereotypes are. In Feminine Gospels, the poem ‘Tall’ also treats society as a fairy-tale by way of the ‘Personal birds sang on her ears. She whistled’ the personification presents a fantasy land and her imagination is the only thing she is in control of.

Duffy additionally explores the effects of isolation throughout her poem which is shown by her downfall as ‘she woke alone’, the adjective ‘alone’ shows how even when skinny, she was still rejected. Duffy uses the characters emotions as a metaphor to convey the isolation as ‘she lived in a tear, swam clear’, these rhyming couplets reinforce the woman has no place in the community and has caused her to create a dreamland for herself, free from influences of the media and society’s pressures, this could be symbolic for women everywhere that one day they will be clear from the community’s demands. Due to the isolation from society, it leads to the woman to lose control of herself ‘in a river of wine’ because of constant rejection- this metaphor shows the unstoppable flow of self-destruction. Duffy presents the character as abandoned from society like ‘the last apple aged in the fruit bowl, untouched. The skimmed milk soured in the fridge, unsupped’. The imagery here reflects her place in the community, no one wants her for who she is. In Duffy’s ‘Beautiful’, Marylin Monroe needed to be dolled up ‘till her hair was platinum, her teeth gems, her eyes sapphires’ which lead her to rely on ‘coffee, pills, booze’ in order to stay the way society wanted her, losing her true self and identity. Duffy throughout her collection, shows how women are so alone and trapped with no one to turn to other than relying on alcohol and drugs as coping mechanism for society’s demands.

To conclude, Duffy uses a variety of methods such as caesura to reflect an ongoing starvation continuing from stanza to stanza to show how females are forced to conform to an idealistic shape. She does this by demonstrating the fluctuation between self- hate and identity in the ‘Diet’, by reinforcing the themes of isolation, loss of identity and loss of control. This message is significant: it reflects our current society and inspires change throughout the medias stereotypes to look a certain way to change. Duffy’s poems in ‘Feminine Gospels’ describes aspects of females losing their identity, and the differences between women in the same society, with the same feelings, being corrupted by the media.

Mrs Tilscher’s Class and Originally by Carol Ann Duffy were intricately detailed recollections based on the authors transition from child to young adult. They feature many typical conventions of a poem, including metaphor, imagery and symbolism. The poems are formed by the authors personal life experiences., ‘Originally,’ reflects on the emotions felt by someone experiencing teenage confusion. ‘Mrs Tilschers Class,’ was a recollection of common experiences throughout childhood. Both poems depict the transition from child to young adult. They portray the wonders of teenage affliction and child puzzlement. The audience is focused at those who can form an appreciation of what is being depicted.

The description of Mrs Tilscher chanting the scenery, reiterates visual imagery. ‘Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.’ The use of commas creates a pause for the children to visualise each country. It depicts a familiar aspect of primary schooling where the teacher attempts to engage the students. The first stanza focuses on imagery by engaging with the five senses. The five senses associate the reader with childhood. ‘Your finger, tracing the route,’ representing the feeling of touch. ‘Mrs. Tilscher chanted the scenery,’ Representing the effect of the sound created. ‘A skittle of milk,’ representing taste and sound created by milk being drunk. This becomes effective as it connects the reader to the mind of a child. Especially that they conceptualise their day much differently to adults. Children will not have the same concept of life and the five senses help explore this. Places in the poems are symbols for a deeper meaning. The River Nile described in ‘Mrs Tilscher’s Class,’ is known as the longest river in the world. This symbolises the journey children will undertake throughout their life. It further creates visual imagery of rivers which have twists, turns and rough patches, also a metaphor for life. The third stanza of ‘Mrs Tilscher’s Class,’ effectively uses metaphor to display childhood progression. The children are no longer ‘inky tadpoles,’ they have ‘changed from commas into exclamation marks.’ The fourth and final stanza of ‘Mrs Tilscher’s Class,’ continues the loss of innocence. ‘You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown and the sky split open into a thunderstorm.’ Using symbolism to depict the emotions of ending an important chapter of her life and the start of new beginnings.

‘The eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.’ The toy is used to establish the authors alienated emotions. Throughout the stanza the sense of despair grows ‘turning wheels…home, as the miles rushed back to the city,’. The second stanza combines first and third person. This gives an informal effect. The author is trying to relate to the audience. ‘Your accent wrong.’ Insecure emotions make the poet give an impression of weakness. ‘I want our own country,’ depicts feelings of isolation experienced by the author. Raw emotions of acceptance begin in the final stanza. ‘you forget, don’t recall or change.’ ‘Skelf of shame,’ this word explains the level of shame felt. This emotion is again shown as ‘my tongue shedding its skin like a snake.’ A metaphor towards the new language she feels she has been forced to learn. Someone asking, ‘where do you come from,’ and a hesitation at answering depicts insecurity towards her self-identity. ‘Originally,’ does not properly conclude as the audience knows the author is still experiencing the same problems.

‘Originally,’ which describes the ‘big boys shouting words you don’t understand,’ and ‘Mrs Tilschers Class,’ speaks of the ‘rough boy (who) told you how you were born.’ The inclusion of this deplorable moment is effective. Everyone remembers when they first learn how humans procreate, it is shocking and used to represent a loss of innocence. Both poems feature formal and colloquial language, often in the same sentences. Informal language gives a casual atmosphere whereas formal language is sophisticated. A combination of these features makes the audience trust the poet but also understand her emotional connection to the story.

Both poems are made effective by their language features, meaningful tone and attention to detail. Both poems condense the transition from child to young adult within the structures of two delicately written pieces of literature. ‘Originally,’ depicts the fearful move to a new country the poet experienced. It appropriately explores the hardship experienced by a teenager. This is helped by the authors personal experience which add to the raw descriptions. ‘Mrs Tilschers Class,’ is a reminiscence of childhood. The imagery created is helped by rich descriptions to engage the audience. Both poems work through the use of imagery and metaphors to transform the audience back to the classroom and to feel the angst of a teenager. I believe both poems were effective and entertaining. I was always able to paint a picture in my mind of what was being depicted.

“Avoid sketchy-looking strangers,” parents often say to their children. Usually, these children listen to their parents. They avoid scruffy men, with messy hair, and black clothes. However, “Psychopath” by Carol Ann Duffy suppresses this idea. This poem allows readers to gain an understanding of what a psychopath is really like and how he/she lures in victims. Jack, the speaker and subject of the poem, reveals the nature of psychopaths through his actions revealed in his thought processes, and they are not the stereotype that parents warn their children about.

The first thing that Jack reveals about the nature of psychopaths is that they do not always look like the typical serial killer. Jack gets his clothes fitted at Burton’s, which is a “low-budget sharp tailoring” service (Tuma 852). As he gets his clothes tailored, he “runs a metal comb” (line 1) through his previously-trendy hairstyle called “D.A” (line 1). This shows that he cares about how his hair and outfit looks. His shoes also “scud sparks,” (line 4) so they are sparkly likely in an effort to impress girls. Additionally, when he “zip[s] up the leather” jacket (line 14), he “loves [him]self” (line 15). He buys leather jackets to give himself confidence to woo girls and does not dress in scruffy clothing. These examples show that psychopaths care about their appearances. This is to gain victims trust, as people often judge books by their cover.

Another aspect of psychopaths that Jack reveals through examples of himself is how psychopaths make victims feel before hurting them. Jack took one of his victims to an amusement park and bought her a “toffee-apple, teddy-bear” (line 21) and “fish” (line 30). Jack was fooling this girl by making her think that he had a simple agenda, possibly to court her, since he likely made her special by buying her things. Jack’s insincerity (from his being a psychopath) is also revealed since he chooses to not include an “and” between “toffee-apple” and “teddy-bear.” He rushes this statement because he only bought these objects as a way to trick the girl and gain her trust. He also rushes this statement because he was rushing to rape her, and spending time with her was a just a ploy. This is reminiscent of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold where Mr. Harvey, an older man trusted by his neighbors, lures in Susie, a 12-year-old girl, into an underground space filled with toys before he kills her. Duffy’s example of Jack and the example of Mr. Harvey show that psychopaths often appear to be kind, selfless, and generous before they hurt their victims.

Another aspect that reveals the nature of psychopaths that Duffy makes clear through Jack is their confidence. Jack feels “like a king” (line 6) when he is with a “good-looking girl” (line 5) likely because he knows he will be successful with his execution of rape or murder. He thinks he is “talented” (line 58); “could almost fly” (line 62); and the “the world [is his] fucking oyster” (line 64). His confidence is illuminated through “fucking.” Duffy is not implying that all people who are confident are psychopaths, but those people who are unconfident likely do not murder because they are likely thinking things like: what if I get caught?

The poem has eight eight-lined stanzas, which shows that the poem appears to have a structure or order on the outside. However, once the poem is read, there is a lack of chronology to these rapes and murders. All that readers gain is a messy thought-process of things that have happened without a sequence. This structure mirrors two concepts: the first one is that murder is messy, just like Jack’s statements. The second one is that the structure of the poem mirrors the nature of the psychopath: the poem is clean on the outside with the 8 by 8 structure, but appearances deceive.

Through “Psychopath,” Duffy diminishes the notion that serial killers and rapists look like the typical stereotype that people create of them. This poem, as scary and uncomfortable as it is, should be read by the parents that believe their children should only avoid the men dressed in black with dirty hands and shabby beards. Arguably, the sad message that Duffy is trying to convey is that we cannot trust anyone.

The World’s Wife was written in a way that the positions of man and woman are explored with a feminist point of view. Carol Ann Duffy wants to show the different kinds of view and relationships man and woman can have in a society based on power and identity as represented in the poems “Little Red Cap”, “Thetis” and “Queen Kong”.

In the poem “Thetis”, the narrator is trying to change and explore new identities and relationships. In the beginning of the poem the woman represents a small little bird, protected in the big hands of a man, ‘I shrank myself to the size of a bird in the hand of a man.’ It sets a very peaceful and calm mood. This is similar to the poem “Little Red Cap”, where the girl is first found in the settings of a save, but boring neighbourhood, ‘the houses petered out into playing fields, the factory, allotments kept, like mistresses, by kneeling married men,(…).’ The setting is made and it gives the benevolent impression of a save environment, ready for a big change. This change is given by a juxtaposition, still in the first stanza, ‘It was there that I first clapped eyes on the wolf.’ The word clapped is an onomatopoeia which gives the reader a sense of danger and an ominous feeling. This is followed by numerous actions and, in the end, the change of an innocent girl to a murderer. This is similar in Thetis, where there is a constant change of identity throughout the poem and a continuous overpowering of the man but, in the end of the poem, ‘(…) and my kisses burned, but the groom wore asbestos. So I changed, I learned, I turned inside out – or that’s how it felt when the child burst out.’ , the woman gets more powerful and has control since she became a mother and is thus very protective. This is emphasised by the rhyme scheme burned, learned, turned.

Both ends of these poems make the reader feel curious about what would happen next in the poem and if this is the final stage and the woman have gotten all their power.

A difference between these two poems is that Little Red Cap can be interpreted as the hunter since she was using her relationship with the wolf as a way to understand and get closer to poetry, ‘As soon as he slept, I crept to the back of the lair, where a whole wall was crimson, gold, aglow with books.’ This portrays that Little Red Cap was using him and sets a thoughtful mood. This is different in “Thetis”, where the woman is constantly hunted by the man throughout the poem, ‘(…) till I felt the squeeze of his fist. (…) But I felt my wings clipped by the squint of a crossbow’s eye. (…) I felt the grasp of his strangler’s clasp at my nape. (…) Twelve-bore.’

This gives the reader a haunting and stressed mood as the woman keeps on growing but the man still finds a way to hunt her. In “Little Red Cap”, the narrator was the hunter trying to get the knowledge and inspiration from the man, while in “Thetis”, the woman tried to grow but the man kept hunting her down.

In the poem ‘Little Red Cap’, the narrator, now a 26 year old woman, returning happily from the forest after having killed the man she had been with for around 10 years, ‘Out of the forest I come with my flowers, singing, all alone.’ Here she shows that she can live perfectly and will live happier without a man by her side. Comparing this to “Queen Kong”, where the poem ends as well in the death of the man, Queen Kong can still see herself as someone who can live without a male figure as in the beginning of the poem it looks like she is telling a fun story to her female friends in a coffee shop. Queen Kong is wearing her dead man as an ornament, making you think that it is her who constantly needs him by her side, this changes in the last sentence of the poem, ‘I’m sure that, sometimes, in his silent death, against my massive, breathing lungs, he hears me roar.’ where she states that even when he is dead, she still believes that it is him who needs her by his side. There is an antithesis between the words death and breathing lungs, reminding that it is the man who is dead and that the powerful woman is alive. This gives a very ghoulish and uncomfortable feeling as she is wearing him around her neck.

Little Red Cap and Queen Kong both end as happy woman who actually do not need a man by their side, showing the feminist relationship in the poems. They both were the leaders in the poem and the man were just their guidance to success.

In the poem “Queen Kong”, the narrator is a large, strong and powerful Gorilla, ‘Didn’t he know I could swat his plane from these skies like a gnat?’ This gives the impression that Queen Kong is indestructible and sets an anxious mood.

In the poem “Thetis”, the narrator keeps changing into animals and has supernatural powers, ‘I was wind, I was gas, I was all hot air, trailed clouds for hair.’ This sets a hopeful mood so that the woman might once overpower the man.

They both have a lot of power, even though Thetis always gets overpowered by the man. So although Queen Kong is a very powerful character, she might have deep down known that their relationship was only one-sided and maybe killed the man so that she could get the total power over him, showing a disruptive relationship.

In “Thetis”, the woman is always trying to improve herself and get stronger and stronger without having to depend on a man. This is different to “Queen Kong”, where in the middle of the poem, she falls into a depression since she was all alone because her man left, ‘I lasted a month, I slept for a week, then woke to binge for a fortnight. I didn’t wash.’ This shows that she needed her relationship with her man and could not live without him, she was dependent on him. The short sentences show that she didn’t care and was unable to even express her feelings setting a dispassionate mood.

There is also a similarity between the poems and Carol Ann Duffy’s real life. For example, in the poem “Little Red Cap”, the setting in the beginning of the poem is based on her home town. The relationship with the wolf was based on her relationship with Adrian Henry who she started dating at the age of 16. Overall this poem was inspired by her first relationship, about a young girl getting poetically inspired from her boyfriend. In the end of the poem she kills the wolf, while in her real life she made an end in their relationship after around 10 years.

All these poems by Carol Ann Duffy portray that in a way woman can change the rolls and can also treat man as objects and dolls.

“Mrs. Midas”, the poem by Carol Ann Duffy was one of the various poems included in her 1999 collection named “The World’s Wife”. Within this collection, she uses different figures from history and myths while allowing the persona of the poems to be the wife of infamous or famous male figures. This allows a perspective entirely new and revealing about the women’s place in that time period.

This poem is focused on the ancient myth which depicts of Midas, king of Phrygia, who wishes with greed and selfishness to have everything he touches turn to gold. This wish comes true, however soon he deeply regrets this wish because life becomes impossible since every piece of food he attempts to eat turns into gold. Midas eventually begs Dionysos to reverse this foolish spell and he does.

Carol Ann Duffy takes the myth out of this context and injects it into presumably, the 20th century. In “Mrs. Midas”, the protagonist is mythical persona created by/inhabited by Carol Ann Duffy, however you can see that Mrs. Midas directly portrays the stereotypes of women in dysfunctional relationships which I believe is what Duffy wanted. It explores the sadness Mrs. Midas feels in regards to not being able to touch her husband. This restriction calls forth feelings of annoyance and disgust she barely contains regarding his extreme greediness. In the poem while still showing the very detrimental effect of this wish that it has on this couple, it reveals many things buried deep. In the poem ”Mrs. Midas”, the persona inhibited by Carol Ann Duffy by sharing her story through her view and deeply analyzing the inequality between Mr. Midas and herself with it, continued to support her final decision to leave him which resulted to her directly serving as a role model to those in emotionally abusive relationships. To most likely to mirror the present day stereotypes of stay at home wifes like the myth presumably portrayed the stereotypes of them at that time, Mrs. Midas ends up being shown as very independent and feministic as result from her husband’s foolish wish and serves as a good role model by leaving her selfish husband in the end.

Initially in the poem the voice of Duffy is injected into Mrs. Midas allowing for a breakdown of their marriage. She begins retelling the anticipated story, but from her point of view. This contrasting how in previous literature, females voices are often silenced, represented in a derogatory manner, or only heard by the men closest to them. In this poem it is crystal clear on how Mrs. Midas is in control and holds some power because she tells her version of the story with utter confidence. Throughout the poem, you begin to get the feeling through Duffy’s humor and metaphors, that Mrs. Midas and Mr. Midas have differing views on wealth and on other things as well. Mrs. Midas’ thoughts are not silenced in this text, but presented with some importance.

Exhibited in the very beginning of the poem, Mrs. Midas is not portraying traditional lady-like behavior because it states she had “poured a glass of wine.” She is challenging society’s deemed “feminine behavior”. This action of not showing regret supports the idea that Mrs. Midas does not believe in the idea that women are not supposed to be drinkers which is the common thought of most traditional people. With the casually inserted quote, “It was late September. I’d just poured a glass of wine..”, imbedded within the first lines of the poem show that she is very calm and ready to relax. This ability to relax in the beginning seems like strength/power that she has. This allows Mrs. Midas to hold some power even if it seemed insignificant, it was actually a very defining power move. Alcohol throughout history has been drinkin by largely males of wealth so this shows how she and who she represents are equal to men. Through Mrs. Midas, Duffy I believe wanted to highlight this inequality of how in most literary works the personality and humor of women are ignored because how they are seen as lower than men. In “Mrs. Midas”, the protagonist is shown very relaxed and allows her views and personality to come forth which could be to reflect the present day or just to directly contrast past stereotypes of when this myth was created.

Although this woman may have a voice, it is still weaker than the males. By interpreting Duffy’s use of gender roles a suggesting how in our society, women are most happy with a strong man by her side. We are first introduced to Mr. Midas when he was “snapping twig”; the snapping is very violent and perhaps that their marriage is very patriarchal and possibly violent. Mrs. Midas was so in love with her husband, but now is petrified of how if they were to kiss it would be “the kiss that would turn my lips to a work of art”. Mr. Midas who was selfish and greedy for wealth, ended up also obtaining a stereotypical wife who is scared and does everything for him.

Having a child together is what many women look forward to and can represent a healthy marriage. Mrs. Midas can be seen as a symbol to many women who are not treated nicely by their husbands, but still wish for them to have a child together. Society has planted this thought in our minds that happiness comes with children. Carol Ann Duffy has made Mr. Midas seem evil and like a villain by introducing the dream she had where ”I bore his child, its perfect ore limbs, its little tongue like a precious latch, its amber eyes holding their pupils like flies. My dream milk burned in my breasts. I woke to the streaming sun.” Having a child is Mrs. Midas’ wish and Mr. Midas rejected it and let greed to come before his lovers want. Even when he did this, his wife is still said to be doting on him even when she tried to kick him out. Duffy portrays Mrs. Midas or women as easily taken advantage of and selfless whereas in contrast lay negative connotations onto Mr. Midas or men as a whole as evil and advantageous.

Leaving the husband in the end was the right thing to do and Duffy purposefully made her do this to serve as a good role model to those ladies who are in unhealthy relationships. Mrs. Midas is a strong willed woman who does not allow her spouse to ruin her life and hold her back, as she sequentially runs away and lives without him. It can be argued that Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Mrs. Midas” is a feminist poem that emphasizes the large gap between women in literature, and in real life face. It challenges some of the stereotypes women are known to exhibit. The character Mrs. Midas is portrayed as a very stereotypical 20th century house wife that cooks and cleans, however Carol Ann Duffy allows for her personality and views on certain things to depict her as a strong willed and intellectual woman. Using this alternate identity of “Mrs. Midas”, Duffy brings light onto these inconsistencies can be made to show the strength and unsaid difficulties she has went through that went unmentioned in the myth.

Feminism is a social movement and ideology that fights for the political, economic and social rights for women. Feminists believe that men and women are equal, and women deserve the same rights as men in society. The feminist movement has fought for many different causes, such as the right for women to vote, the right to work and the right to live free from violence. The theorists I am going to be using are Simone de Beauvior and Betty Friedan. Simone de Beauvior was a french intellectual and Existentialist thinker. She argues that society and culture has deemed that Woman is ‘other’ – (like a slave/a black/a jew) even though women are not a minority like these groups. Betty Friedan was a magazine writer who decided to investigate a problem many women were expressing in the 1950s and 60s: a sense of loss, inferiority, anger, resentment, bitterness, lack of fulfillment, guilt and loneliness.

The poems I am going to be analysing are Purdah I by Imtiaz Dharker and Standing Female Nude by Carol Ann Duffy. Imtiaz Dharker was born in Lahore, Pakistan but grew up in Scotland. She is a poet, artist and film maker. Imtiaz Dharker is mixed heritage and itinerant life makes her question her geographic belongings, cultural displacement, conflict and gender politics and knowing where the home truly lies in her work. This projects the feeling of hybriding, a predicament which many Indian poets find themeselves in, when writing in English. A quote that describe herself is “I call myself a cultural mongrel” because she is influenced by all the places she have lived in, by what she see and hear and read, by the people she meet, the songs she hear and the streets she walk in. Another poem I will be analysing is Standing Female Nude by Carol Ann Duffy. Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow in 1955. Later she migrated to staffordshire as a child and now lives in Manchester. Most of her poems are dramatic monologues in which she takes on the persona of one of society’s dropouts, outsiders or villians. Duffy says “I’m not interested, as a poet, in worlds like ‘plash’ – seamus Heany works, interesting words. I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way”. In each peom she is trying to reveal truth, dealing with emotions, so it can’t have fictional begining. Standing Female Nude shows the reader a perspective of a woman posing for a nude painting. Purdah is the custom, found in some Muslim and Hindu cultures, of keeping women from being seen by men that are not related to, by having them live in a separate part of the house or behind a curtain, and having them wear clothing that covers the whole body, including the face. The poem is about a girl and how she is battling against her situation where she is gettting controlled to the point that she can’t identify the difference between religion and culture. She is trying to make sense to the world by constantly enaged in self-examination. The girl in the poem is always under inspection, scrutinty and the pressures of this makes question herself why. Standing Female Nude is a poem that deals wih heavily with social injustices, both those of class and gender. The poem conveyed from the perspective of an unfulfilled female nude model. It focuses on the class struggles, but it also targets gender inequalities; even the title itself objectifies the woman as simply standing nude, completely impersonal. .

In many movies, the girl or woman is often objectified and sexualised which same goes for poems such as Standing Female Nude by Carol Ann Duffy. As the model states “six hours like this for a few francs”, the opening line is a compliant that sets the tone of the whole poem, until the twist at the end, when the speaker asserts herself. This quote shows that the model is implying that she feel underpaid and that she does not enjoy her work. The model refers to herself as a “river whore” implying that she has sold her body in multiple ways. Furthermore, states that both the artist and herself are using each other to an extent. As a reader, I understand how it feels if you don’t get pay the amount of work you do. I would be unimpressed as well if I was in her spot and what circumstances she is going through. As Simone de Beauvior states “Woman is required by society to make herself an erotic object.” This means her social duty is ‘to make a good show’, fashion to which she is enslaved, is not reveal to her as an independent individual, but rather to cut her off from her trancendence in order to offer her as prey to male desires. It is simply fair to state that women have been bullied via the expectation that they constantly seem to be their best; however as well as, they have been accused when they try to meet that expectation of frivolouness, traviality, and conformity to stereotypes. I believe that specific styles and colors of clothes have been imposed to mark off distinctions between males and females and to set requirements for what is considered appropriate for each sex. Furthermore, in her eyes, she is getting paid a derisory amount for the work she is doing, just “a few francs.” I think it’s unfair because women are under – represented in higher level of jobs. The idea of gender pay gap which is a high level of the difference between earnings of the women and mens. Many female workers work in jobs where there are more than 80% female working and these female-dominated occupations tend to be less paid. While in New Zealand there are some notable exceptions today, women are more likely to be clustered at the bottom or middle of an organization in a narrow range of occupations. The value placed on women’s jobs: compared to other jobs, the skills and knowledge that women contribute to female – dominated jobs may not be adequately recognized or valued. Work arrangements and responsibilities for caring: more women combine primary care with part – time work, which tends to be more readily available in lower – paid jobs and positions. This restricts women’s access to better paying jobs and positions. In the Standing Female Nude poem it shows how work looks at how women in the worplace are valued and paid. Employment equity is about fairness at work. It means people have the same opportunities to participate fully in employment regardless of their gender.

The fact that females still live in a patriachal world is really surprising. Despite the fact “One day they said, she was old enough to learn some shame.” shows that women, from a very early age, are taught about their gender and the shame associated with it and Dharker’s views relates from these early teachings. This is deliberately ambiguous as situations that women face in the world, depending on where you were born, your culture, or who you are, may be different. Depending on the Eastern and Western viewpoints, there are different perspectives.“purdah is a kind of safety… The body finds a place to hide The cloth fans out against the skin much like the earth that falls on coffins after they put the dead men in.” This imply that when the world begins to see a girl as an object, she should respond by resorting to purdah. The purdah is also a metaphor for women seeking refuge and shrinking back into shells in order to be safe from harm and disapproval. The purdah also stands as an alienation from one’s own self, where a girl is forced to do more than she feels what is expected of her.The social pressure and stress makes one lose a sense of being actual to oneself. As Simone de Beaviour states that “Society, being codified by man, decrees woman is inferior; she can do away with this inferiority only by destroying the male’s superrioty”.

The artist the Standing Female Nude tells the model “And do try to be still”. This shows that the artist is not interested in representing her as a human being but an object. His only concern is that she should be still so he can continue to work. The model is cold, being nude, and thus shivering. But the artist, despite hiring her, does not care and instead ask her to be still. He is detached, probably seeing her as another thing he paints, and he is too ‘important’ to be bothered with her welfare. As the Duffy states “the studio is cold”. This shows artist’s disregard for the model and her comfort. She is standing naked in a cold studio for six hours, he could have attempted to make the studio warmer, but fails to do so. Not only is she being paid inadequately, but she is being ordered around as if she is some kind of lifeless, moldable doll. After these first few lines, it is clear that the model is not doing this for the fun of it. She needs to make money, even if it means posing nude for an ornery painter who pays less than she’s worth. The artist gives the impression of impatience, as if he wes expecting the same indefatigable stillness from the model as from a vase. Gender stereotypes of female weakness and servitude are again challenged when Duffy addresses female sexuality which has traditionally been represented from a phallocentric, masculine, heterosexual perspective. As Simone states “The true woman who does not conform devalues herself sexually and socially.”

In conlusion, the tone Duffy uses helps the reader to see how this woman is being objectified; literally treated as an object by Georges also known as the artist and by the work she does. It also shows in order to be liberated, and change the world, women had to first re-asses themselves. E.g. question assumptions about gender differences, female sexuality and the ‘naturalness of gender role. Imatiaz Dharker highlights muslim woman who are faced with the forces of religious and cultural conservatism. The poet exposes the external suffering of woman fraught within the ‘coils of the traditional society’. Woman are presented as a social outcaste, symbolically one with a hunch on her back due to constant stooping. Imtiaz is audacious and leaves indelible stamp of herself as a poet here.

The themes first introduced are predominantly modern consisting of promiscuity and infidelity. The theme of feminism is first introduced towards the end of the piece when it becomes evident to the reader how much power Salome has over her male counterpart Duffy’s reference to the tale of John the Baptist shows her modernising of the tale as it is subverted to suggest that Salome has had a one night stand, thus showing the theme of promiscuity. The story reverts to the original towards the end when John’s head is found to be on a platter as this is the occurrence that takes place in the original story.

The fact that the head is now in her bed shows a modern take on this occurrence. This shows that her actions are an attempt at female empowerment instead of showing her personal vendetta. The way that she is unable to remember that the man’s name shows that he is representative of the wider male population. “Ive done it before, I’ll do it again” this shows that Salome has partaken in pre-marital sex numerous times and has not been reprimanded for this action; this subverts the expectations of this time period. The use of “ain’t life a bitch” shows that she is disregarding this event and makes it appear inconsequential.

Salome is metaphorically murdering the man by stealing his masculinity, this can be seen as subverted misogyny because it is typically the woman who is used during a one night-stand, and yet during this poem it is the man who is reduced because of it. A one-night stand typically involved a man using a woman purely for her body, however in this version of events the fact that Salome has the ability to seek out this anonymous man and murder him shows her self-assured power and her ability to subdue him and carry out her own will on him without the interference from anyone else.

Persona: Her nonchalant attitude towards having killed the man makes her appear to be a hardened or cold murderer Her admission that “ive done it before and I’ll doubtless do it again” reaction to finding a man in her bad shows her lack of concern about the fact that he is anonymous, this could be a reference to her ideas that all men are the same and could be a reference towards Duffy’s personal beliefs Her ability to dance and then be given anything she desires, event the death of another, could be seen as being a warning to society created by Duffy “Good looking, of course” the embedded clause “of course” shows that she believes she is only worth of the most attractive men, her total reliance on physical features in men shows that she does not hold any emotional attachment to the man and that her one night stands are a fairly common occurrence “Obviously knew how to flatter” shows that she has clearly experienced seduction in the past and this shows that she has now become aware of her weakness and wishes to combat it in order to have more power herself and to be less under the control of her male counterparts In the original story Salome is from a rich upper class and this translates to this poem as the whole story is written in first person (i) which shows that she believes it all revolves around her. Her having a maid cements this belief. The fact that the maid has a regional “patter” or accent contrast with the civilised speech with which Salome narrates her situation and her surroundings.

The use of colloquialisms to refer to her vices “booze drugs and sex” shows that she is very familiar with these At the end of the third stanza, she utilises the third person to refer to herself and talk of how the man has fallen for her seduction and therefore as a result he has effectively signed his own death warrant A mirror is frequently used to assess your self-image and this is true within this poem because Salome looks into the mirror to see her self-confidence and perhaps to assess her own personality and what she has become. The way that Salome flings open the sheets to reveal the head appears to be as if she is proud of her creation and is revealing it with a sense of pride and victory Style and Structure: 1.

Duffy successfully creates dark humour within this poem, this is done through the use of assonance such as with “pewter” and “peter” which have similar vowel sounds and therefore produces a type of rhyme however it does not fully fit and therefore reflects the disjointed tone that is evident within Salome herself and reflects her hung-over stream of consciousness. Full rhymes are also utilised in this piece such as “patter” and “batter” which links these two words together, one meaning the way by which you talk and the other being a form of slang, thus showing that her way of talking can be regional in manner. This usage of slang to portray the speech of

Salome suggests that Duffy is attempting to modernise this ancient story and to make it more applicable to modern attitudes. The use of enjambment in the opening lines causes a halting pace in the piece which is a reflection of her distorted state of mind that has resulted from alcohol intoxication and a deficiency in sleep, this pace picks up towards the end of the piece when she begins to gain greater consciousness and becomes more aware of her surroundings. The tone remains somewhat detached and aloof throughout which suggests that she has an elevated view of herself and believes that others are not worthy of her company or even her attention, the mood of the piece reflects this attitude and even when she discovers “his head on a platter” she remains detached.

However, she shows a degree of requite because she accepts that “ain’t life a bitch”, this implies that she has been hurt physically or mentally in the past and now she is able to return the unsavoury favour on another, and act that she draws a disconcerting degree of satisfaction from. 2. The use of brackets in line 2 By using parentheses, it somewhat detaches the content from the rest of the poem, therefore it can be seen as an insight into the thoughts of the person who is talking. This also makes all of the promises regarding self-reformation redundant because she has already given in. Alternatively it can be seen as being somewhat of an afterthought. The ellipses on lines 11 and 12

The use of ellipses in these lines implies that there is a pause taking place, this can be explained by Salome pausing to reminisce or to think about something. By encouraging the reader to also pause with the poet it makes the reader try and assume the viewpoint of Salome. The pause can also be perceived as being Salome’s attempts to compose her thoughts in her somewhat incomprehensible state. The caesura on line 14 The use of the caesura shows that Salome has a brief pause before continuing with her monologue. The usage of this in the context “Strange. What was his name? ” shows that she is most likely using the time to try and think about his name and what it was.

Her confusion and lack of memory in this context suggests that it is information that is missing due to her drunken stupor the night before. Her memory of his lips as being “colder than pewter” and yet she is unable to remember her name shows a subversion in the normal way by which a woman should interact with others. The rhythm of the lines describing the maid’s actions in lines 18-21 My interpretation of these lines is that Salome perceives all of this in a somewhat childish light and this explains the rhyming language. As such, it shows that Salome does not necessarily perceive the maid as being equal to her or at the same status as herself, thus showing a very aloof viewpoint. The use of parenthetical hyphens on the penultimate line.

The use of these hyphens on this line presents a point where an objective or factual piece of information could potentially be inserted; the fact that this has been replaced by “and aint life a bitch” shows the sarcastic nature of Salome and the fact that she uses language that is completely inappropriate to the seriousness of what has happened, an effective murder. The blazee shows that she feels aloof and above the law because she is not governed by the same morals and laws as others. This common idiom to show the unfairness of life also shows her menacing self-satisfaction with what she has done. Language “Ive done it before and I’ll doubtless do it again” the temporal adverbs present us with the persona of a relentless speaker who has accepted her position as a sexually promiscuous woman or potentially as a woman who has accepted her position in the cycle.

The themes of eroticism and violence permeate throughout the poem and are caused by Salome’s language and the imagery regarding the head on the platter The use of parentheses, half-rhymes (sooner or later) and the chains of subordinate clauses helps to convey the sleepy drawl of someone who has just woken up, this also helps us to imagine the upper class accent that she is speaking with In the final stanza, the quote “his head on a platter” makes a direct reference to the biblical story. This also contradicts the typical belief whereby sexually promiscuous women are punished, instead, Salome appears to be exempt from this rule as she is able to carry out her sexual activities and not fear any retribution The line “ain’t life a bitch” shows that she is cold and uncaring about others.

This could be seen as her having been treated unfairly in the past and now she is returning the unsavoury favour on others now that she is in the position to do so The reference to the horses head scene in The Godfathers shows that she is trying to be shocking and cements the belief that it is an act of revenge and therefore has an instigating factor. At the end of stanza one and the start of stanza two, the list of proper nouns dehumanizes the victims. The question mark after them each shows a detached and uncaring viewpoint because she does not care about the individuals. This detached viewpoint allows her to use them solely for the purpose of her own personal gratification.

This also proves to the audience that Salome is the one who has all of the control over the others because she is able to put the men into a position of subservience The speaker of the poem, Salome, requires much less reason to kill compared to Salome in the original story who at least has a vaguely understandable motive for murder The idea that she is mentally unstable is common as shown repeatedly by the way that the sentences appear to stop halfway through the point that is being conveyed. This is also shown by the way that Salome trivializes occurrences such as murder The reference to the head as being like pewter shows that it has become cold, stiff and lifeless. In addition to this, the metal is typically grey which is true to the head that Salome is lying next to, the final interpretation is that she has no emotional bond with the head as shown by it being cold and metallic.

This can also be seen as being a contrast between the heat and desire of the night before compared to the coldness of the morning after The fact that she has killed a man who is normally perceived as being a good man (a disciple) and because she has carried out this deed on him as well implies that she shows no restraint and can kill anyone The fact that the men knew “how to flatter” shows that they are not entirely guilt-free and innocent because they have attempted to seduce her The fact that she returns to her regular routine towards the end of the poem shows that this is a common occurrence but also that her life is very dull and she relies on these interactions with men to improve herquality of life There are several references to an unclean lifestyle in the novel however these can be a cliche reference to her nightly activities The reference to John the Baptist contrasts strongly with the uncleanness of Salome and can be seen as a warped way of her being cleansed

The reverse-anthropomorphism “blighter” to refer to the man shows that men are merely animalistic in comparison to the relative civility of the woman “Like a lamb to the slaughter” is a biblical reference because it is a silent and witless creature that is unable to escape their fate. This reference in relation to the man shows that he is an animal and also that he is pathetic and helpless to escape. The final quatrain (four lines) presents Salome as becoming much more ordered, thus making her appear to be far more sinister than previously seen. In this stanza we also finally see the real truth about the action that she has done, her coldness and her detachedness further shows this and presents the idea that she is perhaps a psychopath because she is able to detach herself from the crime.

“Salome” is a poem taken from Carol Ann Duffy’s collection of poems The World’s Wife; most of the poems share a common feature: a historically marginalized narrator retelling the story from personal perspective. Salome’s character originally appeared in the New Testament and over the centuries many novels and paintings focused on Salome and the legend of Salome contributing to iconization of the character as a vicious femme fatale. One of the texts that followed the biblical story of Salome is a fin-de-siecle play written by Oscar Wilde.

This play may have even had a larger influence in the creation of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Salome”, than the original story. Such an influence is suggested by the intertextual relationship between the two texts established through characterization and juxtaposition of tone and rhyme. In Wilde’s play, symbolism contributes most to Salome’s characterization. Throughout the play the moon can be perceived as a metaphor alluding to the main character. In the opening scene it is depicted by the Page of Herodias “like a woman rising from a tomb,” “like a dead woman… looking for dead things”. Later on in the play Salome herself reflects on the state of the moon as if reflecting on herself “cold and chaste,” “she has never defiled herself … never abandoned herself to men.” These allusions to the moon add to the premonition of despair and to Salome’s portrait. The moon’s metaphoric presence indirectly depicts Salome as a frigid, haughty and adamant. Although at the end of the play Salome demonstrates emotional intentions to her actions, it is a sick perception of love where the main motives are selfish and obsessive. Salome as a narrator in Carol Ann Duffy’s poem bears strong resemblance with the depiction of the character in the play. In the form of a internal dramatic monologue the poem provides exhibits the thoughts of the heroine creating a dimensional and complex portrayal. The poem indicates such attributes of the character as narcissism, indifference and perversion. The reader gets a strong self-reflection from the character in the lines “the beater or biter, who’d come like a lamb to the slaughter to Salome’s bed”, which somewhat resembles Salome’s self-identification in the play: denoting that even the bad characters seem holy in comparison with her. There are important quotations in the poem that indicate Salome’s coldness of heart and indifference to others, when she wakes with a head next to her, but she doesn’t know who it is; seen in the lines “-whose?- what did it matter?” and “What was his name?”

Moreover taking into account the lack of empathy that Salome demonstrates in the lines “from pain, I’d guess, maybe from laughter”. This line may be interpreted as an indication of Salome’s disability to discern between the human emotions. Despite the portrayal of a disturbed and emotionally drained character, the line “ain’t life a bitch” could suggest that Salome herself is familiar with the struggles of life, which could potentially justify her vengeful and cruel behavior. Alternatively “ain’t life a bitch” may be a sarcastic exclamation, seen as is Salome is in a position of power over the victim and is enjoying life. Either way Carol Ann Duffy succeeds in creating a complex, dimensional character in her poem as well as Oscar Wild in the play. The structure of the play emphasizes Salome’s irrational behavior by providing paradoxical relationship between the content and the tone. The light, musical tone of the play contradicts the actions of the character accentuating Salome’s inconsistent emotions. This makes a morally challenging story. Duffy borrows this element of the play successfully using the structure of free verse and the rhyme to provide gentle build up through the poem although the content insinuates murderous notions of events. The rhyme in the poem is most dynamic in the second stanza, perhaps phonetically implying the sound of dripping blood; the phonetic effect in combination with the descriptions from the first stanza “head on a pillow” with “dark hair, rather matted” may conjure up an image of a severed head.

Through the rhyme in such words as “butter” and “clatter” and “clutter” the poet creates a light musical overtone appealing to the reader’s auditory sense. The structure is truly ironic as it combines the structure of a sonnet on the surface and the descriptions of the disturbing actions of a femme fatale. The works of Carol Ann Duffy and Oscar Wilde put Salome in the epicenter of the events taking place, whereas original story in the New Testament gives little to no credit to Salome in John’s beheading. The New Testament focuses mostly on John the Baptizer, Herod and Herodias. When given an opportunity to request anything of Herod’s, Salome runs to her mother and enquires, “What should I ask for?” declining to make her own choice and establishing her mothers power and absolute rule. In the New Testament Salome is seen as only a “girl” originally without even a name, she seems much younger in the original work than in the subsequent recreations. She acts entirely on the behalf of her mother without regard for personal wishes. The lack of personal motive behind makes Salome bleak and insignificant in the original story.

Carol Ann Duffy borrowed the character from the original bible story in a very idiosyncratic way. Duffy took the character with the least power and lack of opinion and gave her a voice. In the poem “Salome” is seen as an independent character, which can be seen through the chosen form of an internal dramatic monologue. An abundance of first face singular pronouns followed by action verbs (for example “I’ll do it again”, “I needed” and “I flung”) highlight the character’s dominant presence. Thus, Carol Ann Duffy recreates the original story of John the Baptizer, crafting it into the story of Salome. Duffy gives strength and independence to Salome, inspired by Oscar Wilde’s vision. The effect of intertextuality allows a complex depiction of Salome, which furthermore challenges the reader to interpret and/or understand her motifs and internal feelings.