Feminine Gospels

Front 1

‘then taken Time for a husband’

Back 1

The Long Queen, one of two moments she mentions ‘time’, and it is ‘taken’, even though she is eternal; she married time

Front 2

how is The Long Queen’s importance shown?

Back 2

men (stanza 1) are in between statements of her importance- they do not matter; she ‘couldn’t die’ because she is a role model; ‘no girl born who wasn’t the Long Queen’s always child’ - she is important to everyone

Front 3

Isolation in The Long Queen

Back 3

‘unseen, she ruled and reigned’ - it is insane to think she is unseen even though she is such an important queen - comment on women being ignored - ‘high window she watched from’ - Duffy’s comment on being removed but powerful as a poet? However, the fact that she is present suggests that no woman is ever alone - solidarity? ‘no girl born who wasn’t the Long Queen’s always child’

Front 4

g

Back 4

h

Front 5

motherhood in ‘The Long Queen’ (quote)

Back 5

‘no girl born who wasn’t the Long Queen’s always child’ - may explain why she ‘couldn’t die’ if her influence lives on in her children

Front 6

Time in ‘The Long Queen’ (quote)

Back 6

‘All her possessions for a moment of time’; ‘taken Time for a husband’

Front 7

Feminine Inheritance in ‘The Long Queen’ (quote)

Back 7

‘her word of law was in their bones, in the graft/of their hands’

Front 8

'third one/ wrote it all down like a charge-sheet, or the fourth never left,'

Back 8

The Long Queen - element of nursery rhyme; metaphor transforms childhood into a place (paralleled in 'the cord') - fourth child never left, implying that leaving childhood is painful; least painful reaction of the third one who 'wrote it all down' - references to the role of a female writer, implying writing is a form of female empowerment

Front 9

'no girl growing who wasn't the apple of the Long Queen's eye.'

Back 9

The Long Queen - biblical link - 'apple of his eye' (Zechariah 2:8) - makes the Long Queen seem like a deity who watches over her people, in this case women

Front 10

'Tears: salt pearls, bright jewels for the Long Queen's finger to weigh as she counted her sorrow.'

Back 10

The Long Queen - precious imagery - their suffering is given value by the Long Queen

Front 11

Sibilance in The Long Queen to create extreme pain (quote)

Back 11

'screamed scarlet'

Front 12

'children bawled and slithered into their arms'

Back 12

'The Long Queen' - a realistic view of birth, not the idealistic version that many writers go for. It's not pretty, but that doesn't devalue it.

Front 13

'godmother, aunt, teacher, teller of tall tales'

Back 13

'The Long Queen' - typical female jobs; 'teller of tall tales' echoes the role

Front 14

'high window she watched from'

Back 14

'The Long Queen' - she's separate from the world - Duffy raising the isolating quality of being a female leader and the sacrifice that comes with breaking away from the patriarchal society

Front 15

'[Feminine Gospels] is striking in its pervasive use of the third person. The tone is more public and oratorical than personal in the longer poems'

Back 15

Michael Woods, ' 'What it is like in words' : translation, reflection and refraction in the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy' (2003)

Front 16

'Feminine Gospels should not be mistakenly read as feminist gospels'

Back 16

Michael Woods, ' 'What it is like in words' : translation, reflection and refraction in the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy' (2003)