I went to the Carol Ann Duffy poetry reading this weekend, and I found that there is such a difference made in hearing the poetry read aloud by the author. Whether that difference is for the better is certainly debatable…. Continue Reading → Read more →
Rough Vs. Final Draft: Sanctuary
One of the natural tendencies when editing is to take away. Minimalizing and streamlining is key in the process of re-working rough drafts. However, in this process its possible to actually lose some meaning due to cutting back. In my readings of the rough drafts of Sanctuary by Carol Ann Duffy from Selling Manhattan, I […] Read more →
Art vs Entertainment
With the paper coming up soon it is important to note what entertainment entails. I won’t have the opportunity to be this informal on the actual paper, so now is the time to discuss something I picked up in a media studies class. When people discuss entertainment, they do so … Continue reading → Read more →
Nature in “Foreign”
After reading both Selling Manhattan and The World’s Wife, I am curious to puzzle out the use of nature to portray the themes depicted in Carol Ann Duffy’s poems. I… Read more →
Wife Material
I find myself rather strongly drawn to the poems in Carol Ann Duffy’s 1999 book of poetry The World’s Wife, and I think that’s probably because I don’t understand poetry. Let me explain a little bit; we touched on this briefly in class but I’d like to state my own case here. Not only do […] Read more →
“Penelope”: The Draft and the Published Work
While I was at first apprehensive about the idea of researching in MARBL and examining Duffy’s manuscripts, I ultimately found the experience itself to be painless and, dare I say, even enjoyable. Looking through Duffy’s drafts kind of made me feel like an archaeologist who had found rare cultural documents that very few people have ever come across. Granted, there… Read more →
Exploring “The Dummy” in MARBL
Going into MARBL and having the opportunity to look through some of Carol Ann Duffy’s manuscripts was a very interesting experience. When opening the folders that housed the manuscripts from Selling Manhattan, I was surprised to witness an extremely unorganized notebook. The first page I flipped to consisted of various scribbling, coloring, doodling, and calculating – something I wasn’t exactly expecting going into a poet’s notebook. As I flipped through… Read more →
Punishing the Infant Jesus
Carol Ann Duffy’s Punishing the Infant Jesus is a very provocative and heretical poem. Inspired by Max Ernst’s polemic painting Young Virgin Spanking the Infant Jesus In Front of Three Witnesses, Duffy offers an unusual take on this prevalent religious theme. Contrary to popular notions where Mary is presented as a venerable pillar of faith, […] Read more →
Selling Manhattan – The Second Half
The first half of Carol Ann Duffy’s poems in Selling Manhattan heavily focused on themes consisting of death, illness, and mental instability. However, in the latter half of this book of poetry the themes do not have clear common themes as before. The string of poems from the pages of 47 to 52 tell a … Continue reading Selling Manhattan – The Second Half Read more →
Carol Ann Duffy: “All Days Lost Days”
If there’s one thing I cannot call Duffy’s poetry, it’s happy. In fact, I can’t think of a single poem in “Selling Manhattan” that I walked away from without even a twinge of sadness. However, although her poems may cover darker themes, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like them. The sensitive and subtle way she approached such subject as death,… Read more →