Standing Female Nude by Carol Ann Duffy

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Standing Female Nude

The poem “Standing Female Nude” by Carol Ann Duffy is written from the point of view of a nude model. The poem describes a day in the life of the dissatisfied model, which clearly shows that she finds her profession uninteresting. The tone at times is sombre although it is evident that towards the end of the novel the poem becomes more light-hearted. The grammar used in the poem is short and snappy adding to the feel of a visage of a very unenthusiastic model.

The model begins by informing the reader that she feels underpaid for the work that she does. “Six hours like this for a few francs.” Since this is also the opening lines of the play we are left an impression of her uneasiness for the job, and we are left wondering whether this depressing attitude will continue. Her opening point of view is glum, yet it leaves us wondering why she has chosen a job that she is so unhappy about.

We gain great insight into the nature of her character in the next line. “Belly nipple arse in the window light.” The sentence helps us to understand that her revealing job leaves her feeling exposed to the public, where all can see her through the “window light.” Using language such as “arse” develops the overwhelming impression that she does not act like a stereotypical lady and is of a very lower-class background.

This is also a good example of imagery in the poem as it is easy to imagine her been overlooked while she sits naked whilst being painted. Our feelings of her humble upbringings are confirmed when she calls herself a “river-whore.” This implies that she is a prostitute and she believes that because she is a prostitute that people will “coo” and make a fuss at her in the painting.

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“They call it Art,” strongly suggests that even though some people appreciate the works of the artist, that she does not consider it to be art, just merely smuttiness.

“He drains the colour from me,” suggests that the artist is taking away her vitality and interest, and she is left sitting bored and lack-lustre whilst he paints her.

In the second paragraph we learn that the relationship between the artist and his model is very distant since he is only concerned with “volume, and space.” While the model is more concerned about her limited finances, and how she ...

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