The Worlds Wife by Carol Ann Duffy Feminist Literary Criticism - The History First and Second Wave feminism was concerned with the politics of women's authority and the representation of women's condition within literature. Saw it as vital to combat the subservient and negative images of women in literature. The World's Wife Comprised of 30 poems Gives women a voice in a seemingly male dominant world - Looks at the story of a man from the woman's perspective such as in 'Mrs Aesop' - Other change the story into one about women such as 'The Kray Sister' Short Video Third Wave Feminism Deals with those issues related to the patriarchal programming within key aspects of society including: education, politics, and even sexuality. 'Looking for missing or hidden or unspoken truths in old stories' Indeed, 'rather than accepting what we've been taught' Dramatic Monolgues Also known as a persona poem Can take a variety of forms Reveal the characters innermost thoughts Creates a sense of intimacy Feminism Moderate Feminism Mrs Midas Representation of the struggles women feel in their designated domestic roles. 'I served up the meal.he asked where was the wine. I poured with a shaking hand.then watched as he picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice.
The World's Wife is a collection of poems by Carol Ann Duffy published in 1999. The World's Wife is Carol Ann Duffy's first themed collection of poems (published in. The World's Wife is a collection of poems by Carol Ann Duffy published in 1999. The World's Wife is Carol Ann Duffy's first themed collection of poems (published in.
' 'his warm hands on (her) skin, his touch' Extreme Feminism 'All I know is this: He went out for his walk a man and came home female Mrs Beast Mrs Beast is aware of gender inequalities but is unable to see male - female relations anything other than a struggle for dominance. Mistreats her husband the same way she argues other women are mistreated by men. Continues to reinforce single gender dominance. Marilyn Monroe It is generally accepted that Marilyn Monroe committed suicide. One of the reasons often given for her suicide was there failure of relationship with President Kennedy amongst her other romantic troubles. Duffy explained she ‘loved with everything and was hurt’ suggesting Monroe is being used to show the pain being the more loving one in the relationship (as women traditionally depicted are) Princess Diana The poem shifts from the tough-minded opening, where Mrs Beast reverses the usual roles of male and female in the story, but by the end there’s a suggestion that the self-dependence, the strength, is at a cost.’ Carol Ann Duffy: ‘Yes, it’s the cost of a broken heart, I suppose. I think Diana hadn’t long died when I wrote that poem, and so I was conscious of the national trauma about her death.
Attitudes have changed since then, but I did feel terribly sad at the time, as did many others.’ 'The pig in my bed was invited.'
Carol Ann Duffy Poems Online
Themes Literary devices Duffy used loads of different literary features in her poetry. Simile's, metaphors, symbols, idioms, hyperbole's, personifications, anthropomorphism's, and more. These help her to show, and to help the reader understand what she really thinks about the men in her poetry and to express the feelings of the wives, but most times in a funny way. Moods The poems all create a specific mood, the word Duffy uses to describe things (the men/husbands for example) play a huge roll in these poems. And also, every poem is another story on its own, they all mean something else and have another moral of the story. And in almost every poem there lies an overall message made my Duffy for you to analize.
Keeping in touch with the actual stories Although Duffy invents new issues and centers her poems on the wife's, she still refers to the actual story while at the same time inventing new things along the real story. By Alix Julia Cauchi Carol Ann Duffy The World's Wife Sexism The collection takes characters, stories, histories and myths which focus on men, but in Carol's own feminist way. She does not talk good about all men in her poetry, and in the poems the men are desired, laughed at, left alone, and not powerful anymore The World's Wife looks at important events in history from a female perspective and in a controversial way. Relationships Duffy talks about the men like she is their wife in the poems, she tells stories like she has had the same problems, discussions and/or events in her own life. Some might think that she writes poems based on her own experience(s) with relationships and men.
And through these poems she can tell people how bad she thought they were, and how much she disliked or hated those men, she says what she feels and wants, and sometimes it is a bit too much. The wives Duffy had chosen different well known male-centered myths, or stories, but now she centered the poems on the wives of those 'important' men from the actual myths or stories. And then she implies what she thinks the wives might think about their life, their husband or just the relationship they have with their men.
And this is where Duffy walks in with her exaggerated but funny ideas for the poems. My fingers wiped the other's glass like a brow (11) Mrs. Midas - When he died, I held him all night, shaking him like a doll, licking his face, breasts, soles of his feet, his little rod.
(33) Queen Kong - The moon like a lemon popped in the mouth of the sky (47) Circe -He sat in his chair like a king (11) Mrs. Midas Examples of simile's Metaphors - Silent railway line: normally busy and noisy. Now: no adventure, absence of travel (3) Little rep-cap - A heart of gold: not possible, you would die and/or means that you have a big heart that you are a good person (12) Mrs. Midas - Coloured lights in the rain: seeing something good/bright in a bad situation, keep on being positive (42) The devil's wife More examples - My little man: used in Queen Kong, where the roles are switched, now the wife is the big creature, and the man is the 'little' human. Here emasculation is used: taking away the manliness of the character. (31) - Remember the skills of the tongue - to lick, to lap, to loosen, lubricate, to lie: this is an alliteration because you have a repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words (47) Circe Of course, like in every story/story there are different themes, but these 3 are the main ones that Carol Ann Duffy talks about in her poems Little Red-Cap: The name of the story is very similar, but it means the same.
The man involved in the poem is called a wolf, he acts like a wolf, and he is aggressive. Little red-cap wears red clothes, and when the wolf fell asleep, she grabs an axe and chops scrotum to throat, and sees her grandma in his body.
Some examples More. Midas: has only two similarities which are that after a magical spell, everything that he touches turns into gold. Sisyphus: Is also pushing a stone up the hill, and he will never get the stone at the top, but here mrs. Sisyphus is laughing at him and calling him names. Queen Kong: The same story, but now the roles are switched. Now the wife is the giant ape, and the man is the small human.
But then the little man dies and Queen Kong is unbelievably sad.