Carol Ann Duffy

Carol Ann Duffy’s enraged Medusa and Sylvia Plath’s abusive The Jailer involve women in damaged relationships both physically and emotionally. Duffy’s persona is an unhappy wife who is jealous of her husband’s mistress and this jealousy transforms her metaphorically and physically into the mythical creature, Medusa. This persona is used to victimise this women, Duffy uses this persona to evoke empathy for the character to show she is clearly distressed and suffering. Compared to Plath’s persona who is a women in a dysfunctional relationship which has affected her both physically and emotionally. Similar to Duffy, Plath uses this persona to victimise the women in the relationship to show that she feels like she is imprisoned and has no power.…

Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1955. She graduated from Liverpool University in 1977 with a degree in Philosophy. She began writing poetry in primary school (elementary school), and continued to throughout the rest of her life. She worked for The Guardian’s poetry critic in the late 1980s, and also for a poetry magazine in the mid 1990s. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Duffy as the British Poet Laureate in 2009 on a ten-year term. In 1985, she published a poetry collection title…

The subject of war and death comes with a sense of loss, terror, conflict and pain. Two examples of poetry that present the subject of war and death are Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, “War Photographer,” and Robert Bly’s poem, “Driving Through Minnesota During the Hanoi Bombings.” Both of these poems present vivid images of the battle, show the devastating feelings towards war and provide the psychological impact on those involved in war. It is as if the “War Photographer” has captured similar…

In both Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and the anthology of poetry written by Carol Ann Duffy, many strong feelings about partners are presented. In both pieces of literature, traditional preconceptions are challenged throughout and I am going to explore some of the different ways that this is achieved. At the beginning of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are depicted by Shakespeare as in a loving relationship “my greatest partner of greatness”. The use of the word “partner” suggests fairness and…

Love can be truthful and dangerous like a knife. In the poem ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy, the poet uses language effectively to examine the comparison of onion and love. The author uses metaphor, diction and imagery to emphasize the truthful side of love and the dangerous of married life. Extended metaphor is used to show the onion is more faithful and reflects the true nature of love. The first stanza ‘Not a red rose or a satin heart’ (line 1) shows its a rejection of traditional symbol of…

Introduction In the Elizabethan era females were seen as lesser than men; an inequality. Women were seen as not being capable of acts such as murder that are villainous. They were often referred by their husband’s name, showing they were almost a belonging. The society was patriarchal, men dictated everything, women had to be subordinate and submissive or there would be ramifications. Carol Ann Duffy’s poems in the anthology “The World’s Wife” are contemporary, but set in an era when women were…

In poems, “Stealing” and “Education for leisure”, Duffy uses a range of literary devices like colloquial language and short sentences. Duffy clearly portrays a sinister and lonely persona in both poems. In “Stealing” the persona is presented as lonely and isolated from society so they resort to stealing just for the pleasure of doing it. Similarly, in “Education for leisure”, an egotistical young adult is portrayed who is killing living things to undo his intense isolation. These poems were…

Written Task 2 Part: 4 Outline Prescribed Question: If the text had been written in a different time or place or language or for a different audience, how and why might it differ? Text: ‘Originally’ (from The Other Country) by Carol Ann Duffy Part of the course: 4 Literature-Critical Study Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry collection The Other Country reflects the places that she had visited in her memory and imagination. What’s interesting about this is that Carol Ann Duffy, the author…

On one hand, we have the poem ‘Medusa’ by Carol Ann Duffy, in a dramatic monologue based on a mythical creature, Medusa, whose insecurity and jealousy leads her to believe that her husband is cheating on her. Consequently, she turns into a gorgon who turns anything she looks at to stone. On the other hand ,we have ‘Les Grandes Seigneurs’ by Dorothy Molloy which is about an aggrandized woman’s romantic relationship with men there to entertain her and to support her self-aggrandizement. However,…

entered me" this also has a double entendre and refers to Hindly and Bradys sexual relationship, which is also described as being violent, and also refers to the fact that she feels controlled by Brady, "he made me bury a doll" this shows that he was the instigator and she followed him. when Carol Ann Duffy says "he made me" this makes the reader question whether or not she was involved in the murders or if she was only forced to hide the…