Carol Ann Duffy's Revision of Masculinist Representations of Female Identity
Carol Ann Duffy is one of the freshest and bravest talents to emerge in British poetry —any poetry — for years', writes Eavan Boland (Duffy, 1994, cover). This courage is manifest in Duffy’s ability and desire to revise masculinist representations of female identity and her engagement with feminine discourse, a concept which, as Sara Mills points out: has moved away from viewing women as simply an oppressed group, as victims of male domination, and has tried to formulate ways of analysing power as it manifests itself and as it is resisted in the relations of everyday life. (p.78)
It is these aspects of Duffy's work that I wish to address here by examining the ways in which she subverts masculinist assumptions and discourses in the following ways: by giving voice to previously marginalised or silenced figures, by re-presenting stereotypes and power relations, through comic reappropriation of myth and by re-writing the canonical love poem.
The problematic nature of representation itself, its subjectivity and unreliability, is a central concern of Duffy's poetry. Much of her work is written in the form of dramatic monologue which serves to demonstrate the fundamental inadequacy of language to re-present by undermining the readers' expectations of traditional discourses. By using characters' voices rather than her own, Duffy identifies with the speaker and confers authority onto a voice which might otherwise be silent. The foregrounding of this voice becomes a means of demonstrating the failure of language to represent specific aspects of experience, particularly female experience. The monologue, by giving voice to the previously subjugated female ...
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Works Cited
Duffy, Carol Ann, Standing Female Nude (London: Anvil, 1985).
——, Selling Manhattan (London: Anvil, 1987).
——, The Other Country (London: Anvil, 1990).
——, Selected Poems (London: Penguin, 1994).
——, The World’s Wife (London: Picador, 1999).
Gregson, Ian, 'Carol Ann Duffy: Monologue as Dialogue' in Contemporary Poetry and Postmodernism: Dialogue and Estrangement (Basingstoke: MacMillan, 1996).
Lacan, Jacques, 'The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious' in David Lodge, (ed.), Modern Criticism and Theory: A Reader (London: Longman, 1988).
Mills, Sara, Discourse (London: Routledge, 1997).
‘Pass Notes’, Guardian G2, 10 May 1999, p.3.
Room, Adrian, (ed.), Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (London: Cassel & Co, 2001).
Viner, Katharine, 'Metre Maid', Guardian Weekend, 25 September 1999, pp.20‑26.
...mely carefully chosen rhetoric, she has demonstrated how women can break free of men. She has taken away the fear than many women feel when they want to stand up against the male figure in their life. When women are able to be strong, and use the power that they have always had, they are able to move mountains with that power. They can remove themselves from a man who takes advantage of them or objectifies them, and reduce them to nothing more than the coward that they are. Larcom’s poem painted a clear picture of progress that women have made against men, and how they are tackling the issues set before them. Because of Larcom and her ability to use her voice through writing to portray and strong vision of women, has empowered many others to do the same. They are able to break free from the chains of repression that so many men have restrained women by for so long.
Leonard, K. D. (2009). African American women poets and the power of the word. The Cambridge Companion to African American Women's Literature, 168-187.
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Art Therapy provides the ideal treatment approach for an adolescent who suffers from body dissatisfaction and/or eating disorders. Art therapy advocates self-awareness, recognition and the ability to understand one’s behavior, thoughts and actions (Doktor, 1995). This unique psychotherapeutic treatment offers a safe place for expression and a means to thoroughly understand the psychological concerns at hand. There are many advan...
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To what extent does Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Medusa’ challenge stereotypical masculine and feminine attributes?
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Masculinity and femininity are two terms, which have been interpreted differently throughout history. Both the males and the females have responsibilities and duties but these duties differ based on one’s gender. Gender has played a prodigious role in the economy, politics, and the society. Everyone starts making interpretations of the strengths and weaknesses based on one’s gender. These interpretations are not always based on his or her ability but is usually based on his or her gender. Males tend to be judged as extremely strong and unfashionable in terms of appearance. Whereas, females are judged as expensive and very fashionable. Males and females both differ in their abilities and their enjoyments. Fashion, entertainment, and strength are three topics, which are used to define masculinity and femininity in the 21st century.