In The World’s Wife, Duffy brilliantly gives female characters a voice through her use of humor and parody. By doing so, she highlights female intelligence and challenges notions of females as the inferior sex. Such mockery of masculine perspective and experience serves to reassert female strength and power. Humor also acts as a vehicle to […] Read more →
Editing: A Necessary Evil
The first difference I picked up between the final and earlier drafts of the poem “TELEGRAMS” is the level of emotion. In the second draft, Duffy includes moments like “YES YES YES YES YES” (Ln. 13) or “NO. NO. NO. NO. GET IT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL” (Ln. 22) Both of these lines have been omitted in the later drafts of… Read more →
“Eurydice” and “Pygmalion’s Bride”
When reading the second half of The World’s Wife, I was surprised “Eurydice,” did not precede or follow “Pygmalion’s Bride.” To explain my surprise, I must first confess that I love Ovid’s Metamorphoses – in my opinion, it is the greatest work of poetry ever composed. Because of my love, I thought it was pretty clear that Duffy specifically draws… Read more →
“Mrs. Lazarus” Drafts Revisited
Three years ago, I wrote a paper on this poem using the materials in MARBL. I chose to look at them again to see what else I might notice or see differently years later. In looking over the paper I wrote then and at the drafts of “Mrs. Lazarus” again, it was clear that I […] Read more →
Duffy’s Manuscripts: Delilah
On my second visit to MARBL, I looked at the journals Duffy used for her poem “Delilah”. My appointment coincidentally fell very close to the date she composed her last journal entry on the poem: March 1st, 1998. I decided to look at this poem because I enjoyed the allegorical component. On my first read, the … Continue reading Duffy’s Manuscripts: Delilah Read more →
“Thetis”
Influenced and inspired by Greek mythology, Duffy’s poem “Thetis” is about a sea goddess who changes shape in an attempt to avoid marriage with a mortal named Peleus. However, despite her relentless efforts, Thetis ultimately consents to marriage. Fitting with The World’s Wife prevalent theme of oppressed female figures, Duffy offers the narrative perspective of […] Read more →
“Model Village”: The Drafts and the Published Work
After giving “Model Village” a more meticulous read, I became interested in Duffy’s choice of characters for the poem. Because the poem concerns the dark thoughts of residents of a seemingly ideal village, I found it curious that Duffy gives the reader access to the musings of a maiden, a farmer, a religious figure, and a librarian. I read her… Read more →
Duffy’s Reading of “From Mrs. Tiresias”
I once heard that rhymes are common in poetry because it makes them easier to remember. I heard that because poems were passed down generations through spoken word, rather than… Read more →
The World’s Wife’s “Little Red-Cap”
As I began reading The World’s Wife, the first thing I noticed was the lengthiness of the poems, compared to the conciseness of Selling Manhattan‘s poems. A unique characteristic of The World’s Wife is Carol Ann Duffy’s use of fantasy and fairytales. Where Selling Manhattan focuses on language and tragedy, the first half of The World’s Wife centers around fictional topics, such as Greek mythology and fables. “Little Red-Cap” is… Read more →
Rough vs Final Draft: Mrs. Quasimodo
One of the themes of The World’s Wife is showing how famous men (from myth, novels and history) are either not as great as they were made out to be or how they affected the supposed women in their lives. When I went to the public reading by Carol Ann Duffy, she explained that her […] Read more →