‘… worthless in a bush. tedious.
Going out was the worst. He’d stand at our gate, look, then leap;’
The short sentences, which are broken up by punctuation, give the poem a broken rhythm, which is a reflection of ‘Mr Aesop’s,’ speech reinforcing the dislocation of the relationship. The stanza structure is a simple five lines per stanza, this mirrors ‘Mr Aesop’s,’ simple daily routine. The exception to this is stanza two where there are two one word lines,
‘ Him
envied the eagle. Donkeys would, on the whole, prefer to be,
Lions.’
Duffy uses the two one word lines to show how tedious ‘Mr Aesop’s’ speech can be. They break the flow of the stanza, and cause the reader to pause before moving onto the next line, which, I feel, reflects ‘Mr Aesop’s’ speech and life style. We can also see from the above statement that Mr Aesop had hopes and dreams that would never be realised. At the end of the poem we see ‘Mrs Aesop,’ showing ‘Mr Aesop,’ that she is more than he gives her credit for,
‘That shut him up. I laughed last, longest,’
The whole tone of ‘Mrs Aesop’s’ speech, and the way Duffy phrases it emphasises the fact that the relationship is not working and she wants to end it. In fact it could be said that she has moved on already away from the marriage, and ‘Mr Aesop,’ has stood still.
‘Mrs Rip Van Winkle,’ is a prime example of how women can cope without men, and I feel, reflects Duffy’s attitude towards men perfectly. ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkle,’ sums up what is best about not having a husband,
‘what hands-down beat the rest
was saying a non too fond farewell to sex.’
Here ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkle,’ is saying that the best bit about her husband being asleep, was not having to have a physical relationship with him. I think that this is a further example of Duffy allowing her own views to intrude into the work; the fact that she is a lesbian would match with not wanting a physical relationship with a man. Once he wakes up and sits up ‘in bed rattling a bottle of Viagra,’ the tone suggests that she isn’t too pleased to see him again. The fact that she gave a ‘non too fond farewell,’ to sex and she laboriously says, ‘until the day,’ she came home and found her husband sitting up in bed, suggests that it wasn’t a fond meeting.
‘Mrs Rip van Winkle,’ doesn’t spend time telling us about her husband, instead she takes the time to tell us what she did herself.
‘…seeing the sights I’d always dreamed of,
The Leaning Tower,
The Pyramids. The Taj Mahal.’
The fact that she did this shows a rather self centred quality to ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkle,’ and shows that she would much rather be without a Male. Obviously her husband restricts her, and ‘while he slept,’ she moved on and learned to cope without him. Once again Duffy shows us an independent woman who can cope without a man, and indicates that Marriage in this case is pointless, and that getting divorced would give her the chance to find ‘some hobbies,’ and a life for herself.
Duffy writes about ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkle,’ seeing the ‘Pyramids,’ and the ‘Taj Mahal.’ Duffy here is using these two building as symbols of ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkles’ relationship. The Pyramids are ancient tombs, these are symbolic of ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkles’ relationship with her Husband being over, and the Taj Mahal is a building which symbolises love which reflects ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkles,’ love of her new lifestyle, which, because she has no demands from her husband, she is able to enjoy.
‘Anne Hathaway,’ is a poem which doesn’t depict men in such a harsh light. Duffy uses a much more romantic tone in ‘Ann Hathaway.’ She also uses devices such as metaphor,
‘…My lovers words,
were shooting stars which fell to Earth as kisses.’
Here Duffy is complimentary towards the male in the relationship. This is shown through the metaphor as words being shooting stars, which she felt kissed by. Duffy depicts the couple in bed together as equals,
‘The bed we loved in,’
The use of we, shows, what is in this anthology, a rare quality of positive togetherness and that they have a deep fondness for each other, as well as a real respect for each other, and they love each others differences. ‘Mrs Pilate,’ says her husband had ‘camp hands which clap for Grapes,’ clearly showing he is soft and greedy, and by the tone of the quote, she clearly doesn’t respect this feminine quality in a man. This is a sharp contrast to how ‘Anne Hathaway,’ depicts Shakespeare. Hathaway clearly respects Shakespeare, she uses the words ‘writers hands,’ as if she is revelling in the fact that her husband is a playwright, and she clearly respects what he does, which is very unlike ‘Pilates Wife.’ Ultimately I feel that a lot of the criticism of the men in this collection is from Duffy’s point of view.
I don’t feel that Duffy respects the men she criticises in the poems. For example Pilate had Jesus killed, and Rip Van Winkle got drunk and slept for twenty years. But Shakespeare was the most famous playwright ever. As Duffy is a writer too, I feel that she respects Shakespeare, and therefore won’t want to criticise him.
The majority of the poems show women being in unhappy relationships with their men. Ultimately I do feel that the ‘Worlds Wife,’ does want a divorce. ‘Mrs Rip Van Winkle,’ would enjoy a divorce to ‘find some hobbies,’ for herself, and ‘Mrs Aesop would just like to get away from her boring husband. Duffy does have some exceptions to this in the anthology. ‘Anne Hathaway,’ seemed very happy with her husband’s company, even in the ‘next best bed,’ but for some women that isn’t good enough. I feel that each poem Duffy writes is influenced by who she is writing about and whether she respects that person. Clearly she didn’t respect Pilate with his ‘camp hands,’ but Shakespeare was another matter. With Duffy’s particular sexual orientation, I also feel that it would be hard for her to be with a man who she would be satisfied with, which I also think reflects why she depicts most of the ‘World’s Wives,’ wanting a divorce.
