'Carol Ann Duffy's poetry is mainly concerned with the politics of sex'
‘Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry is mainly concerned with the politics of sex.’How far do you agree with this statement?‘Delilah’ by Carol Ann Duffy has an undeniably sexual element running throughout - an element which is highlighted by its suggestive language and presentation of gender roles between the characters ‘Samson’ and ‘Delilah’. Many of Duffy’s poems have a similar element running through them such as in ‘Salome’, ‘Little Red Riding Cap’ and ‘Pygmalion’s Bride’ therefore it can be said that her poetry is mainly concerned with the politics of sex. However, Carol Ann Duffy states in an interview in 2005 that ‘Delilah’ is not about sex but is a love poem exploring the nature of Samson’s wish to become ‘gentle’, ‘loving’ and ‘tender’. This would therefore suggest that the main concern of the poem is more to do with love, power and gender.There are several references to sex throughout the poem, however the most direct reference comes in the fourth stanza where Samson ‘fucks’ Delilah. This is in stark contrast to his request in the third stanza only three lines above of wanting to learn how to ‘care’, or ‘be gentle or loving or tender’’. Despite wanting to become gentle, Samson ‘fucks’ Delilah rather than ‘makes love’ to her, implying that his wish was only a half-hearted one i.e. a wish he only makes but not something he would act upon. ‘He fuck(s her) again’ further shows this is not the first time Delilah has been ‘fucked’ suggesting a repetitive
nature of this act. Furthermore, Delilah allows herself to be ‘fucked’ - through Delilah’s submission, Duffy could be making a statement that women can not break free from this subordinate role in sex.Samson’s language is also sexually suggestive, possibly implying that a man can not have his libido driven out of him regardless of the situation. For example, in the second stanza Samson is boasting about his achievements which demonstrate his strength and fearlessness, however he is distracted by a sexually suggestive note, telling Delilah to ‘put your hand here -’. This continues in the third stanza; he asks for ...
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nature of this act. Furthermore, Delilah allows herself to be ‘fucked’ - through Delilah’s submission, Duffy could be making a statement that women can not break free from this subordinate role in sex.Samson’s language is also sexually suggestive, possibly implying that a man can not have his libido driven out of him regardless of the situation. For example, in the second stanza Samson is boasting about his achievements which demonstrate his strength and fearlessness, however he is distracted by a sexually suggestive note, telling Delilah to ‘put your hand here -’. This continues in the third stanza; he asks for a cure for his inability to be gentle and in the following line proceeds to ‘fuck’ her as though he believes the cure is in ‘fucking’ her. The situation - Samson opening up to Delilah about something personal- would usually be assumed to be free from anything conjuring violence however Samson ‘fucks’ her anyway suggesting that regardless of the time or place, sex is something which remains rampant in a man’s mind.On the other hand, it could be said that rather than sex, the main concern of the poem is with power distribution in this relationship. Whilst many would argue that Delilah was dominated by Samson in the poem due to the sex, in the end Delilah cut Samson’s hair which biblically represented the demise of his strength. Cutting his hair in the poem may be symbolic of her dominating Samson as she has successfully seduced him and at his most vulnerable (during slumber) she has taken away his strength. This is also in sync with the biblical story in which Delilah disarms Samson and gives him up to the Philistines, ultimately dominating him. Sex is only a way by which Samson is pacified after which he goes to sleep and becomes ‘soft’, thus vulnerable. Furthermore, Delilah cuts Samson’s hair with ‘deliberate, passionate hands’ suggesting she enjoyed disarming him and stealing his power away from him. This is a reversal of the typical gender roles in literature and Delilah’s ‘passionate hands’ may be showing that Delilah enjoyed this.Furthermore, the idea that Delilah had to pacify Samson through sex suggests an element of power on Delilah’s side as sex was a method through which she satisfied Samson and put him to sleep, leaving him vulnerable. Duffy may be making a statement through this that women can use their sexuality as a weapon to weaken men and thus overpower them. This interpretation is concerned with both sexual politics and power distribution demonstrating that Duffy’s poetry is not only concerned with the politics of sex.In another interpretation of the poem, it could be said that the main concern of the poem is not the politics of sex, but it is actually about Delilah fulfilling Samson’s request of making him ‘gentle’. In an interview in 2005 with Barry Wood, Duffy talks about the poem and says ‘In this poem I have her do it (cut his hair) so that instead of becoming powerless he becomes gentle’. Duffy keeps up a series of rhymes and half-rhymes on the word ‘ hair’ through the poem such as ‘care’, ‘roar’, ‘bear’, ‘scar’ to keep the reader on the theme of Delilah cutting Samson’s hair in order to make him less powerful and thus gentle. Alternatively, rather than wanting to dominate Samson, it could be that Delilah cuts Samson’s hair with ‘passionate hands’ because she passionately wants to fulfil his desire to become gentle. She addresses him as ‘my warrior’ in the fourth stanza showing that she had appreciation of his strength, however ‘(she) was sure that he wanted to change’.This may have been a selfless act of love rather than a selfish act of betrayal. Duffy says whilst improving Samson as a human being, cutting his hair destroys him as a warrior. This shows a completely different side to the poem which has no relevance to sexual politics at all. In fact, it is a possibility that whilst being a love poem, Duffy is exploring gender roles through this relationship in the poem. It is interesting to note that Samson demonstrates the ‘macho-man’ qualities that are typically desired in a mythical, biblical or fairytale hero yet he still wishes to possess female characteristics such as being ‘tender’. Whilst in slumber Samson becomes ‘soft’ - this is interesting to note because when a person is asleep their conscious mind is switched off and their subconscious takes it place. This could be a suggestion that perhaps social constraints have made Samson want to maintain his ‘macho-ness’, however inside he does not want to conform to this socially constructed role and this comes out when he is asleep. Ultimately, when Samson is asking Delilah to make him gentle, he is asking her to make him more feminine and by taking away his strength, Delilah is indeed fulfilling his request of making him gentle. On the other hand, Duffy may have intended the poem to carry a double-meaning. As a feminist writer much of her work in ‘The World’s Wife’ is focused on sex and relationships therefore it could be speculated as to whether ‘Delilah’ can have as simple a meaning as suggested above. Also, as the insight Duffy has given in her interview does not match the biblical story, there is a possibility of a double-meaning. This possibility is brought out by the lack of emotive diction in the poem particularly from Delilah’s behalf. She only describes him as ‘handsome and huge’ when he is asleep i.e. vulnerable to becoming overpowered which could mean that he only appeals to her when he is weak and she is able to take advantage of this. Other than the above example, the speaker does not use emotive language to describe Samson which suggests a lack of emotion or love towards Samson. This heightens the idea of a double-meaning in the poem which carries a concern with the politics of sex.Upon reading the poem for the first time, ‘Delilah’ comes across as a poem highly focused on sex and power as demonstrated by the suggestive language used throughout. However, by reading the interview with Barry Woods, we can see that sexual politics is not the entire focus of the poem and much of the poem is actually concerned with love and gender. In fact, it can even be argued that the poem has no concern with the politics of sex and is in actual fact a love poem as Duffy herself states in her 2005 interview. To conclude, ‘Delilah’ is a poem open to several different interpretation - it can be seen as a directly sexual poem or more deeply a love poem.