Carol Ann Duffy is only interested in warped, dysfunctional relationships, people and memories. Discuss.

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Carol Ann Duffy is only interested in warped, dysfunctional

relationships, people and memories. Discuss.

In her contemporary collection of poetry ‘Mean Time, Carol Ann Duffy’s focuses on the three main themes of dysfunctional and warped relationships, people and memories. She uses many techniques to portray the different aspects of these themes, and uses modern references to crease a feeling of recognition between herself and the reader, one of the reasons why she has been called ‘the representative poet of the present day’.

Duffy commonly uses the subject of memories in her poems, with a strong focus within this being the idea of feeling regret or dissatisfaction of life. One poem which has a clear feeling of this dissatisfaction is ‘The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team’. In this poem Duffy portrays a man who has long since reached the peak of his life – that being when he was ‘Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team’. Duffy uses language here to expose the man’s hidden feelings about his childhood and his life now. Phrases such as ‘fizzing hope’ and ‘so brainy’ turn into negative expressions at the end of the poem, as he refers to his ‘stale wife’ and ‘thick kids’. ‘Fizzing’ and ‘brainy’ represents his hopes and desires; at this stage he is enthusiastic about his future. However, things did not turn out as planned and using the words ‘stale’ and ‘thick’ show his disappointment with what his life has turned out like, as does the fact he has a ‘boss’. Despite his intelligence, he has ended up in an everyday ordinary job, not as his own boss, or manager of a company, but as an employee and someone who doesn’t earn their wage packet themselves but just gets it paid into his bank account every month.

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Another poem which looks at memories is ‘Never Go Back’. This poem does not show dissatisfaction with the character’s current life, but the disappointment they feel when they return back to where they once lived. The poem is separated into three sections using stars, with each section referring to a different place from the character’s past. The first of these is situated in a bar, most likely the old local of the person. Duffy describes the place pessimistically, giving the bar an unpleasant atmosphere. This is notable in phrases such as ‘living dead’ and ‘never return’. Duffy refers to ...

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