Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife
Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife 'The World's Wife is a callous feminist attack on men'. How far do you agree with this idea? Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife is a collection of poems mainly based around legend, myth and fairytale. All of these poems feature male characters or references to them. Little Red Cap, the first poem featured in the collection uses the story of Little Red Riding Hood to portray men as wolves 'In his wolfy drawl, a paperback in his hairy paw'. She implies that men are dangerous and violent. 'The wolf, I knew would lead me deep into the woods, away from home, to a dark tangled thorny place'. 'One bite, dead. How nice, breakfast in bed, he said.' Also, Duffy implies the manipulative nature of men. 'Lesson one that night, breath of the wolf in my car, was the love poem'. The poem indicates Duffy's view that men are weak and easy to tempt with prospects of pleasures of the flesh. 'I made quite sure he spotted me, sweet sixteen, never been, babe, waif, and bought me a drink'. This poem depicts in various derogatory terms, indicating an attack on men in general. Thetis, the next poem to be found in the collection, looks at men from a different perspective. Whereas Little Red Cap portrays men as weak and pathetic, Thetis shows how men can be overpowering and possessive. Throughout the poem, the woman is trying to escape from the man. She
Before You Were Mine
Subject matter The poet is writing to her mother, having seen a photo of her mother as a teenager: * She describes the photo of her mother standing laughing with two of her friends. * She knows that the thought of having a child one day doesn't occur to her mother when young, when she was wrapped up in a world of dances and teenage dreams. * Now remembering her own childhood, the poet thinks of how she used to play with her mother's red shoes and imagines when her mother might have worn those shoes to meet a boyfriend in George Square. * She remembers how her mother used to teach her dance steps when she was a child - yet even back then, the young poet wished she could have known her mother when still young and carefree (before she became a mother). Language Read the poem carefully again and think about how the language contributes to the mood of the poem. There are many references to her mother as happy and bright - you laugh / the bold girl winking in Portobello/ you sparkle and waltz and laugh Life back then is seen as very glamorous. Her mother is linked to Marilyn(Monroe)and goes to a dance where a glitter ball hangs - the thousand eyes. Her mother dreams of fizzy, movie tomorrows, and she imagines her mother meeting a boyfriend under the tree, with its lights There is a contrast between her mother's life as a teenager and as a mother of the young poet.
Carol Ann Duffy.
CAROL ANN DUFFY Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow on 23rd. December 1965 .she is widely commended as Britain's leading female poet. She has studied philosophy at Liverpool University. Her mother was Mary Black, an Irish. And her father was called Frank Duffy. She has four younger brothers. She attended St Austin Roman Catholic Primary School, Stafford from 1962 to 1967, after which she attended St Joseph's convent school, Stafford. She was encouraged in poetry by her teacher June Scriven. She decided that she was going to be a poet at the age of 14. At the age of 16 she met a 39-year-old Liverpool poet Adrian Henri and they started going out together. When she was 18, She had her first pamphlet of poems, Fleshweathercock, published by Outposts in 1973. In 1977 she graduated with a BA honours degree in philosophy. She was influenced by the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein during her studies. After graduating she worked for Granada Television. In 1981 she moved to London where she lived until 1995. In the early 1980s she took up freelance writing, and she held a C. Day Lewis Fellowship that enabled her to work as a writer. Her future achievements are: * She won first prize in the National Poetry Competition with Whoever She Was, and the Greenwich Poetry Competition with Words of Absolution, and she received a Scottish Arts Council Award for Standing Female Nude
Carol Ann Duffy
Analyse selected poems by Carol Ann Duffy which explore the past, commenting on ways in which this theme is conveyed. Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow in 1955; a majority of her poems are autobiographical and are very much linked to her childhood. I have very fond memories of my childhood and so I have chosen to look more closely at, "Before you were mine", which I feel has very clear meaning of the feeling and her affection she showed for her mother. Duffy goes ob and imagines her mother's life before she was bought into the world and expresses how she would have loved to be one of her friends. I will also analyse "Mrs Tilcher's class" which shows many fond memories of childhood, particularly Duffy's last year in junior school. This would have been around the time of the mid 1960's. Before you were mine is written in the first person "I." As if Duffy is chatting to her mother. Many of the phrases begin with "I" as if Duffy wanted to make her existence known long before she was actually born. In this poem Duffy is reminicising lovely thoughts about her mother. Fantasying about the life she used to lead and the fun that she had ten years preceding Duffy's birth. She goes on to write about her mother going out with friends to a dance hall, most likely in the late 1940's early 1950's. Enjoying her teenage years, the clothes she wore and the possibility of meeting a
Carol Ann Duffy
Harry Hare 10Q Carol Ann Duffy writes poetry, which reveal disturbing aspects of human behaviour and the human nature. I will be writing about these three poems, 'Salome', 'Before you were mine', and 'Stealing'. I will be going into deeper meanings with these poems showing what is revealed and how it is revealed. Te three poems all have more than one theme. In Salome, the theme is revenge, and it also has a strong sexual element. The main idea in the text of before you were mine is a sexual element, but one between the mother and daughter which is very disturbing. We can see this firstly in the title, "Before you were mine". The word mine has slight sexual connotations. Also, her name Marilyn is symbolic for the great sex icon Marilyn Monrogue, suggesting she sees her mother as a sex icon. The poem stealing is on the subject of theft but also has a sexual element. In the first stanza, "midnight", and "moon" have romantic connotations, and so does "mate" which also has sexual connotations. Theft is also a disturbing theme as most of us regard theft as being immoral, meaning she doesn't care about right or wrong. This theory is also proved when the poet writes, "Part of the thrill was that knowing children would cry in the morning". She is not amoral, as she knows the difference between right and wrong, "a fierce chill" which suggests a pain in her stomach. This
Discussing the Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka.
Telephone Conversation The "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka is a poem that's title is very casual and straight forward. The poem's title shows the reader that what they are meant to read is realistic and free flowing. Like most poems there is a general theme that is carried on from start to end. The "Telephone Conversation" has two main obvious themes; these are racism and the lack of education and understanding that some people may have. As the reader reads through the play they become aware that the persona is African and therefore has a darker skin tone than white skinned people. The poet has given the persona as well as the landlady different forms of speech. The persona appears to speak a little more formally than the landlady and this could perhaps be to lack of education and understanding towards the landlady or even that she feels the persona is unclear of the English language. The persona tends to be more formal and use more official ways of speaking, "Down in my passport." The speech of the landlady is written in capital letters. This could have been done deliberately by the poet to emphasize how the landlady imagines the persona to look like. "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" This illustrates to the reader that the landlady speaks slowly and clearly to the persona as she may see the persona to be dumb and unfamiliar with the words coming out of her
How do poets write about violence and/or tension in schools? You should consider 'The Lesson' by Roger McGough and one other poem from section one of the Anthology.
How do poets write about violence and/or tension in schools? You should consider 'The Lesson' by Roger McGough and one other poem from section one of the Anthology. 'The Lesson' by Roger McGough and 'Comprehensive' by Carol Ann Duffy both discuss the violence in schools in their poems. 'The Lesson' is a more visually violent poem whose bloodthirsty villain is infact the teacher, whereas the characters in 'Comprehensive' tell us about the problems and racial tensions in their schools without as much violent language. Roger McGough writes about violence and tension in schools through the use of his own opinions. He uses humor in 'The Lesson' as he shares his views on three main themes, the first being his criticism of classroom management. 'Chaos ruled OK in the classroom' suggests that the teacher cannot control his students and this is further confirmed as 'his voice was lost in the din'. One of the most important qualities a teacher should have is power so they may continue with the lesson planned without any unnecessary interruptions and the teacher in this poem should have been able to stop the noise being made almost at once. This point leads onto McGough's views on teacher/pupil relationships. The poet implies that there is very little respect for the teacher as the children carry on talking and he is 'ignored'. Throughout the rest of the poem we see the teacher carry
Duffy - Little Red
The poem starts with a fast paced first line, commas are used frequently to fasten the pace of the poem. The enjambment also helps to increase the speed by showing the flow of the lines and show a continuity, and it's only when she first sees the wolf that a full stop is used suggesting that she is startled or in awe of the wolf. She describes her first glimpse of the wolf as "clapping" suggesting that it happened suddenly and hence brings an end to her long fast paced sentence which provides a contrast with the monosyllabic "It was there that I first clapped eyes on the wolf." In the next stanza, the pace is fastened again; the use of commas makes the sentences longer as does the enjambment. The rhyme of "paw" and "haw" also increases the pace suggesting that she is excited by his "verse" and even when the lines are ended with exclamation marks, the repetition of 'What big..' which both allows the continuing speed and allows the reader to parallel the lines from the original Little Red Cap, but Duffy uses it as a compliment. Duffy then lists all the things which can describe her, this list builds up the speed showing the on going excitement that poetry allows her to have (which later becomes her reason "why" for going through the ordeal). In this list she mentions that she's "never been", the phrase is supposed to end with 'kissed' however the absence of the word implies
Compare the ways Maya Angelou and William Cowper present the issue of slavery in the poems 'Still I Rise' and 'The Negro's Complaint'.
Compare the ways Maya Angelou and William Cowper present the issue of slavery in the poems 'Still I Rise' and 'The Negro's Complaint' The poems, 'Still I Rise' and 'The Negro's Complaint', clearly present the issues of slavery in different ways. 'Still I Rise' was written in the 1970's by a poet called Maya Angelou. Angelou was a black American. Angelou writes about the effects which slavery had on black people and how she always rose above what happened in her life. Hence the name of the poem, 'Still I Rise'. On the other hand, 'The Negro's Complaint', was written in 1788 when slavery was still legal, therefore, Cowper's poem was seen as very controversial at the time when it was written. 'Still I Rise' was written many years after the slave trade was abolished but nevertheless, white people were segregated from the blacks in this very racist time. Obviously the main theme of the poem is: the effects of slavery, the treatment of blacks, and racism. The content of 'Still I Rise' is very moving as it describes all the things which slavery had had its affect on. For example, when Angelou says, "You may write me down in history with your bitter twisted lies." This suggests that people treat her differently just because of their racial history. The content of 'The Negro's Complaint' mainly focuses on the lifestyle of a slave. It begins with the black African being forced from
Gcse English Poetry: Auden compared with Calrke
GCSE ENGLISH POETRY The two poems that I will be analysing are 'Stop all the Clocks' by W.H. Auden and 'The Vet' by Gillian Clarke. My discussion will be based on the theme of the poems and look at how the poets used form and language to help his readers understand and make meaning out of the poem. STOP ALL THE CLOCKS THEME The theme of this poem is about grief. The poet takes his readers through a simple but complex journey that explains the different stages of grief that a person feels when a loved one dies. The poem reveals the emotional upheaval that death can cause. The grief felt is carefully illustrated by the poet in the form and language he uses throughout the poem which has a strict rhyming scheme of AABB throughout the 4 stanzas. FORM AND LANGUAGE The form and language that was used by the poet to describe the feeling and mood of the bereaved was spread throughout. The first stanza simply showed the first stage of grief and that the bereaved is coming to terms with the death of a loved one. For example, he said 'stop all the clocks' which signified that he wanted to focus on what had just happened and does not want to forget his love as people do over a period of time. Again he said, 'cut off the telephone' meaning he wanted to be alone without communicating to anyone. This is because she wanted to concentrate and grieve on the death of his loved one
