Is anyone doing Carol Ann Duffy's 'The World's Wife'?

I have some interesting notes on some of the poems if you would like me to post them please ask if not then i won't because there is quite alot.

The Kray Sisters

This is the only poem in the collection ‘The World’s Wife’ that is not a monologue. It is also one of three poems that are based on real characters from the 20th century
The real Kray twins were brothers (Ronnie and Reggie): famous villains around the East End of London in the 1950s and 60s. They ran protection rackets and had money in various clubs. They were eventually imprisoned for the murder of Jack the Hat in 1969 after evading police for years, and it was recommended that they serve a minimum of 30 years in prison. Ronnie died in prison in 1996 and Reggie died a few weeks after his release in 2000. Ronnie was also homosexual in a period in history where it was illegal.

Frog and toad – Road
Thr’penny bit – Breasts
Mince pies – Eyes
God forbids – Kids
Orchestra stalls – balls
Butchers / butchers hook – Look
Whistle and flutes - suits

This poem is supposed to funny and relies on it being read aloud in the cockney accent. The characters in the poem are very boastful and the twins exude an air of confidence, which comes from their bullying and violent behaviour.
The first line suggests that there is a cheerful air to this poem but the geezers are actually more likely to be scared of the Krays but the line can be interpreted in both ways.
The repetition of ‘London’ is patriotic of the town that they live in and refer to songs that were popular songs associated with the WWII and its aftermath that hint the feeling of unity and community spirit.
There are a lot of internal rhymes in the poem, very much mimicking the rhythm, lilt and cadence of the East London dialect.
The reference to the grandmother shows that the family is strong and united. It shows that the twins have a lot of respect when it comes to family which is ironic as the twins are extremely violent and bullying to others.
The twins are very masculine in their language and style and perhaps this shows that although they are female they are actually not that different from men and therefore shortening the gap and conflict between the sexes. This is unusual as other poems in this collection are emphasising the distance between male and female.
It is ironic that the twins behave in quite a chauvinistic way and criticise some women for being, ‘some plonker’s wife’ as they are perceived as being protective of women, ‘no questions asked, for Protection.’ This could mean contraceptive protection as there are quite a few other sexual references or it could just mean protection from men in general.
These are very powerful women and yet they belittle other females and are condescending to them, referring to them as ‘girls’ and lecturing them, ‘A boyfriend’s for Christmas, not just for life.’ The line also patronises men: Duffy takes the phrase, ‘A dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ and puts the male in the place of the soppy-eyed puppy dog.
There is use of alliteration to show the twins’ success: ‘the fruits / of feminism – fact – made us rich, feared, famous, / friends of the stars.’ The lines mirror a public speech, such as an acceptance speech at an awards ceremony, in that it builds to a climax, each word or phrase that follows the last reveals increasing power: note that ‘feminism’ is one of the first and therefore one of the least important to the twins.
The extract from the latter that appears is supposed to reflect popular feeling and certainly the real Kray twins are often remembered in this way, with memory that London had been safer ‘in the old days’. The statements are still said a lot today: just look at some of the election slogans and declarations that have been used and the way in which politicians keep telling us they will return Britain to the state it used to be in. What Duffy is doing here is reminding us that ‘the old days’ were not better and were often much worse: her references to the twins in the photographs reflect the facts that before the mass audience for television, people were sometimes unaware of current affairs and events beyond their own streets or towns so it was not that there was less crime, it was just that not so many people knew about it.
In the last stanza the poem has built to an almost frenzied crescendo of power, which mirrors the behaviour of the real twins, in that they felt themselves almost invincible. The phrase ‘dressed to kill’ has an ominous double meaning in that the twins are literally well dressed and yet they really are dressed to kill anyone who offends them.
The extract from the song at the end of the poem is indeed by Sinatra, but it is Frank Sinatra’s daughter, Nancy. The song itself hints at a power within women that might remain dormant for many years, but once roused can not be ignored. The full song lyrics become darker as the song progresses, which is possibly why Duffy has left the ellipsis at the end of the poem, hinting at the sinister events which were to end the Kray twins’ rule over East London.
Reading the poem we know that it is just one of the twins narrating at one time, however we do not know which one it is therefore emphasising their togetherness and close bond almost as if they were one person. This is accentuated when they say ‘No one could tell us apart,’ and also, ‘two of our four mince pies.’
In the first stanza they talk about tailored clothes to flatter their breasts showing that they have grown up and flourished. However in the second stanza they have a flashback to their childhood. This sense of backwardness emphasises that they are not good people and that they violent and bullying.
They talk about big ‘East End Hearts’ which is ironic because of their violent nature it would seem that they did not have big hearts for anything.
‘London Town, made for a girl and her double to swagger around;’ It’s as if nobody else matters and that they think so high of themselves that the town is theirs. This is emphasised when they mention their car, an ‘Austin Princess’. The car is also black, which is quite a sinister colour which suits the twins.
In the second stanza they use the rhyming slang for kids ‘God forbids’ it is almost like they don’t want to think of themselves of ever being kids and that they have always been intelligent and better than everyone else.
‘God Rest Her Soul’ perhaps they use capitals to stress the respect that they have within their family. Their grandmother was a suffragette which ties in with their feminist views.