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Carol Ann Duffy - The World's Wife

Hey, is anyone else reading it?
I've found it really interesting and her views on the woman's side of the story are most interesting.
I've been given this question though;

A male critic told Duffy he ‘felt threatened’ by the poems in The World’s Wife.
How far do you feel that these are threatening poems?

And I'm rather stuck, this is what I have and I don't know whether it's right or not;

When reading the collection The World’s Wife, by Carol Ann Duffy, we can tell almost immediately that the majority of the poems may appear threatening; especially towards a male critic. Many of Duffy’s poems appear to be awfully anti-male and often show violence towards men.

And I'm going to study the poems Little Red Cap, Circe and Mrs Sisyphus.

Any help please? It's in for wednesday :frown:

Reply 1

dh00001

16

not reading it but in english questions ive always taken "how far do you feel" to have no real right or wrong answer. its your own opinion and you just have to be able to back it up with examples of techniques etc.

Reply 2

little one

11

ive done this... ill dig it up and post it up later on today if i can find it

Reply 3

milly.

12

I don't think theres a single poem in the entire anthology which doesn't have at least one reference to her not being to fond of blokes.

Reply 4

dreamqueen

3

I don't think most of the poems are threatening, quite often they're light-hearted, for example Mrs darwin or realistically frustrated, for example Mrs Midas. Even when the women are aggressive there are underlying reasons that are more complex, for example Mrs Beast's insecurity about how women are treated - her aggression is a defence mechanism. I would suggest exploring these underlying ideas to see how far the 'threatening' aspect really holds up

Reply 5

Parker!

We read it for a little bit of a filler at the end of Advanced Higher English, it was very good. Accessible.
She's quite witty in places but generally, I'm not a fan. She's too randy.

Reply 6

daniretro

The poems are threatening, not just to men, but women also, because duffy doesnt slander men, she reverses the roles of men and women to show how we are represented in society in different genders.
Like in little red-cap, shes a virgin, but shes not saying the wolf made her bed him, she WANTS to go to bed with him.
It can be seen as autobiographical as she gives up men in the end. And basically duffy is showing how men seduce women, but then how women can also be like that, slandering both, if you get what i mean.

Hope this helps :s-smilie:

x

Reply 7

cheryljc

You could argue the different ways in which they are threatening, for example through Queen Herod, the idea of punishing men for something they haven't done yet and the ferocity of maternal love, Circe for the violent imagery and they idea of "when the heart has hardened, dice it small" (not sure if that's the exact quote, I'm going from memory here), and through the absence of men in Demeter, which could be considered threatening to men. There's also the idea of role-reversal (I used The Kray Sisters as my example) and that women can perform male roles just as well as men, but that men can't perform women's roles (think Mrs Tiresias).

Another key point would be that whether they're threatening depends on gender, for example there's a strong message of female unity and sisterhood within the poems.

Hope this helps :smile:

Reply 8

mylifesucksbad

No way does she 'hate' men!
She criticizes the negative characteristics of masculinity (look at poem 'Psychopath' - the signifiers point to male aggression). A good counterpoint to your argument would be 'Eley's Bullet' (also from another collection - the decline of the pastoral parallels the decline of masculine emotion).

Reply 9

Wildebeest

13

mylifesucksbad

No way does she 'hate' men!
She criticizes the negative characteristics of masculinity (look at poem 'Psychopath' - the signifiers point to male aggression). A good counterpoint to your argument would be 'Eley's Bullet' (also from another collection - the decline of the pastoral parallels the decline of masculine emotion).

Yes - this is the best point about her writing. However, I find it all a little too controversial and sexually-orientated in places which in a strange sense prevents it from seeming particularly original. I didn't enjoy Rapture very much as it seemed a little too predictable.

I saw her at the Bristol Old Vic last year; she can do a very convincing live reading though! :smile:

Reply 10

MCRmy28

Duffy specialises in giving voice to the outcast. It is a disturbing but coherent & clearly contemporary voice that demands serious attention. How far do you agree with this judgement?

Can someone help? I'm really stuck...and not sure how to go about answering this...
any help would be appreciated...thanks...

Reply 11

Hasina2755

the kray sisters is disturbing as they take on male characteristics, they also adopt the language (use of "birds" to refer to women)
It gives the voice to women in history who were not given a voice, for example in eurydice it is "herstory" and not "history. she is giving her account of the events and it is like she is kind of rewriting history.
Pygamlions bride also deals with giving women a voice, however, she does not use it she remains a "statue". the only reason she "changed tack" was to get rid of him. this gives us the idea that women put themselves through these things in order to get freedom, clearly sending the wrong message. this poem seems a little disturbing becasue when he "pressed" and "squeezed" it seems forceful and again shows this is what women put themselves through.

hope this helps :smile:

hasina

Carol Ann Duffy - The World's Wife

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