Carol Ann Duffy is best known for writing poems that often take the form of monologues. As the first female Poet Laureate, her position was questioned by men such as Tony Blair due to her homosexuality, “Prime Minister Tony Blair’s administration had wanted a poet laureate who exemplified the new “Cool Britannia,” not an establishment figure, and Duffy was certainly anything but establishment” . Duffy is known to present and expose issues in society through her poems. Duffy went on to produce numerous series, where she created astounding poems, some of which addressed the struggles and issues from a woman’s perspective. From the critical anthology, I have decided to read Duffy and her poems from a feminist perspective and how she presents the inequality of women throughout her poems and presents the difficulty of women’s lives. By focusing on a feminist point of view, this will give an understanding of why most of Duffy’s poems focus on exploring feminine archetypes, which are usually shown through the male having the power and dominant role (as if a female having the dominant role is unrealistic). For example in “Mrs Midas”, the poem based on the mythical story, In the myth Midas loses his powers and declines riches in all forms, but in Duffy’s version Mr and Mrs Midas are quite unfortunate. The modern story is told from the point of view of the angry Mrs. Midas. Although her husband is a major part of the story, it is Mrs Midas whose voice Duffy represents. We sympathise with her as she yearns for something she cannot have: the physical touch from her husband. Now that her husband cannot touch her she grieves for what her husband can no longer give her as she says, “I dreamt I bore his child” . As her husband turns the world from natural to unnatural, she cannot imagine him ever giving her what she desires. Her sorrow is evident in the final stanza as she highlights her husband’s greed and selfishness, all she wanted was for her husband to of thought about what she wanted and thought about the consequences. The irregular line lengths throughout the poem perhaps reflect the chaos of their marriage. Mrs Midas’s empowerment is shown through her choice to leave.
H Bretons argued, “that female independence gets a strongly negative connotation” , Duffy supports this critical analysis by creating the poem, “Standing female nude”, where ‘female independence’ is shown through a prostitute and how she is objectified for her chosen lifestyle. When the prostitute in the poem exclaims, “it does not look like me” towards the end, this could suggest she is offended or confused with the cubist art and why the artist has painted in such a style. “We make our living how we can” shows how as an artist, he is seen as a genius yet she is seen as a whore. As he commands, “Don’t talk” , the artist feels he can tell her what to do because his job is more respected. As a woman who is trying to earn her money how she can, she compares herself to the artist. When asked why he does this, his response is simply, “because I have to” . She enjoys her life but is mocked in society for her vocation. As written in the Critical Anthology, Female critics are known to, “challenge representations of women as ‘other’, as ‘lack’, as part of ‘nature” . Duffy focused on gender issues and re-created many poems whilst giving the female the superior role and re-creating and “revaluing women’s experiences” . An example being, “The Little Red Cape”, the poem is the first poem in the collection ‘The World’s Wife’ and charts the persona’s journey from innocence and naivety to understanding, experience and independence as she finds her own voice. She presents innocence. The flowers represent beauty and growth; the new hope of young women. She has also found her voice, so her singing is celebratory. Finally, she is “all alone” , as she no longer needs a man and can rejoice in her independence, giving the feminist view of not needing a man to be independent or strong, this poem revalues the experience of Little Red Riding Hood from the original poem and gives her the stronger and more powerful role.
However, it has been questioned whether changing the narrative of the poem into a woman’s makes Duffy a feminist writer. Duffy is commonly known for defending women and giving women a voice. Although most of her poems represent a strong character, she has created some poems that show the weakness and vulnerable nature of a woman, as shown in the poem, “Big Sue and Now, Voyager”. Duffy wrote the poem to represent somebody who has become a recluse from being made fun of and criticised for how she looks. The persona has dreams and wants to “sail fourth” as said in the poem, but is paralysed and the dream stays a dream, whilst she eats herself into oblivion. Men have caused the struggle she faces, men who have bullied her into believing she is not good enough for reality. She yearns to be a part of anything. This poem represents a part of Freidan’s feminism (a leading figure who broke new ground by exploring the idea of women finding personal fulfillment outside of their traditional roles in the women’s movement in the United States of America). The mention of “mars bar” at the end of the poem symbolises that she lives in a man’s world with the well-know reference that women are from Venus and men are from Mars. The poem shows the difficulties she faces as a woman. Duffy went on to produce a series of poems called “The World’s Wife”, In the World’s Wife; she uses metaphors in order to liberate the female voice. As mentioned in the anthology, “Feminist critics consider different gender representations within texts but also question whose voices are heard and whose attitudes and values are assumed in the text” . In most cases, it is the man’s voice and attitude that is assumed within the text, however and in contrast, Duffy has defied ‘neutral’ and ‘mainstream’ literary interpretations and has refocused the canon. Showing that Duffy refocuses the voice and attitude by presenting a women’s voice.
Although it is clear a feminist interpretation is presented throughout the majority of Duffy’s poems, let it not be forgotten, there are numerous poems such as ‘War Photographer’, ‘Education for Leisure’ and ‘Dolphins’ that are closer to other readings such as Marxism, Eco-critical, canonical or none of the above. If we look at ‘Anne Hathaway’, a canonical poem, based on the quote from Shakespeare’s will; “Item I gyve unto my wife my second best bed” . The poem is about Shakespeare’s wife and how she was gifted the bed her and her husband used to sleep on. Duffy challenges the stereotypical assumptions made about Anne Hathaway, that she was merely an inconvenience for him. The poem is sentimental and expresses the love Hathaway has for Shakespeare and makes us question her contribution to the work of her husband. They represent mutual love and respect and show a balance and understanding between each other which is different compared to Mrs Midas, where her thoughts portray the selfishness of her husband, whereas Hathaway’s thoughts represent passion and lust for her late husband. “My lovers words were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses on these lips” , the metaphor shows that just as shooting stars are mystical and brightening, Shakespeare’s kisses lighten Anne Hathaway’s world. This poem is an example of Duffy writing about love and grief as a wife mourns her husband, not based on the social issue such as feminism. As she says, “My living laughing love” , the alliteration throughout the sonnet represents their joyful and uplifting love. The lyrical imagery gives the impression of a strong and inspiring relationship. One in which is knowingly associated with drama, yet shows romance and passion.
In considering all the evidence from Duffy’s poems, and the extent to which a feminist reading can be applied, it is apparent Duffy is interested in women’s voices, as they make up majority of the personas she chooses to write about, however the majority of the women are not facing ‘difficulties’. Therefore, it is perhaps fairer to conclude, that as a feminist writer, Duffy is more interested in representing other issues in society such as social status, giving animals and personas a voice to give the reader a perspective of who they could have been or recreating the voices of famous fictional and non fictional personas, which may include their difficulties, but Duffy is also supporting and focusing on the evolution of women in literature.