The language and structure of Mrs Faust is very important to the meaning and effect of the poem. “We met as students, shacked up, split up, made up, hitched up….” The fast pace use of short sentences and the language here reflects the fast pace of the lives Mrs Faust and her husband shared. The attention to the materialistic gains in the poem also reflects both upon the shallow love that Faust shares with his wife, and also perhaps the superficiality of our modern society. “Fast cars. A boat with sails. A second home in Wales.” This passage is quite possibly an accurate representation of the materialistic wealth that people have. She also implies that because of this the love that they share is very shallow, and perhaps does not even exist.
The use of language in Eurydice is also very important in creating the tone of the poem. The opening stanza of the poem uses an extended metaphor; it uses literacy and words as a metaphor to describe the desolate underworld. “It was a place where language stopped, a black full stop, a black hole where words had come to an end.” Because of the importance of language for Orpheus and Eurydice, by describing the underworld as a lack of language and words, it shows the bleakness of the underworld for Eurydice.
A common aspect of all Duffy’s poems is the frequent use of colloquialisms; this is also true in both Eurydice and Mrs Faust. “Then take his lust to Soho in a cab,” the colloquialisms used in conjunction with the conversation tone again make it easier for the reader to relate to. Another thing that appears throughout Duffy’s work is the strong sexual connotations. Yet in both these poems the sexual connotations are far less obvious then in other poems by Duffy. In Faust there are some sexual references for example the reference to whores and lust. Yet it is only in passing and does not intrude into the poem, as in this case feminism is not a pivotal ideal of the poem.
The structure of Mrs Faust is quite conforming compared to the other more structurally radical poems Duffy has written. It is written in clear stanzas that are all of similar length. The punctuation is fairly ordinary. In fact throughout the poem there is very little use of poetic devices. There is rhyme within the poem yet is does not conform to any particular scheme, the rhyme is not particularly traditional, it rhymes words with other words that when spoken in a normal dialect would not rhyme. Yet because of the rhythm of the poem the rhyme works. Eurydice on the other hand has a much more varied structure; each stanza is a different length, some stanzas only consisting of one line and others that span nearly a page. The punctuation is also more varied than in Mrs Faust, with some lines appearing in parenthesis and also the use ellipsis. The use of punctuation draws more attention to the words and language it accompanies, in effect making it stand out. The varied stanza length coupled with the diverse punctuation means that the structure of the poem is very unique and has a strong effect on how the poem is read.
Both poems are based upon myths. Faust was an alchemist in the 1500’s who was said to have sold his soul to the devil in return for knowledge and power. In the poem this has been modernized, in return for selling his soul he received materialistic gains and political power. Eurydice is based upon a Greek myth. Orpheus and Eurydice were lovers, but Eurydice was killed by a snake and was condemned to the underworld. Yet in the poem Duffy is portraying the myth through the eyes of Eurydice and in fact we realise that Eurydice does not love Orpheus.
In both poems at the end of them, there is a large revelation in regards to the plot of the poem. “I keep Faust’s secret still- the clever, cunning, callous bastard didn’t have a soul to sell.” The revelation is that in fact Faust had no soul to sell, and so effectively tricked the devil into granting him power, hence the “clever, cunning, callous bastard…” This is a very clever revelation created by Carol Ann Duffy that gives the poem an extra dimension. There is also a revelation towards the end of Eurydice. The revelation in effect turns the myth up side down, in terms of its meaning. “Orpheus, your poems a masterpiece. I’d love to here it again…”In the poem it seems Orpheus turned around due to his arrogance and pride, in contrast to the actual myth, where he turns around to make sure Eurydice is alright. The arrogance displayed by Orpheus could be construed as a reference to the relative arrogance of men.
In my opinion these are two good examples of the mastery Duffy has over verse and language. They are two strong poems from her collection, which display the clever way in which she interprets old myths and folklore and brings them up to date. Mrs Faust in particular I think is very strong. The fast pace of the poem relates well to the fast pace nature of our modern society, the revelation at the end is also very clever. There is also a rhythm that moves the poem along and adds to its effect. Both the story telling nature of her poems and the morals that they spread coupled with the interesting use of poetic devices bind together to create an excellent compilation of poems.
