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Idea notes about the poem by carol anne duffy the original
Idea notes about the poem by carol anne duffy the original
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Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright. Duffy began to write poetry from the age of 11, and was encouraged by two English teachers to develop her literary talent.
At the age of 15, Duffy had a few of her poems published, and she went on to study at the University of Liverpool. In 1977 she received an honours degree in philosophy. During her time at university Duffy also had two plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse.
Duffy was appointed as Poet Laureate on May 1st 2009. Children studying for their G.C.S.E’s, and A levels have also studied her poems. Many older children and adults of this generation hold Duffy’s poetry dearly; perhaps it is Duffy’s honest exploration of everyday experiences in scenes from adult life, childhood,
Perhaps this is because a person’s youth can never be relived. Throughout the poem it asks the reader would or could you change anything if you were given the opportunity. Duffy writes the poem in the form of a narrative dialogue; this technique is used in a variety of Duffy’s poems. In this particular poem the dialogue takes place between an old person and a narrator. As the poem is read, the old person never seems to reply, but seems to follow the narrator’s instructions. This technique allows Duffy to talk straight to the reader, who is being asked to take part in questioning his or her own childhood memories.
The beginning of the poem takes on a sarcastic almost ironical approach, “If you think till it hurts you can almost do it without getting off that chair” this is addressed to the person who has become older mentally as well as physically. “Prompt of a word” signifies the way in which a single word can trigger an abundance of
There are some dis-jointed sentences in the second stanza, “fell to the bleak streets” followed on the next line by “where I felt my heart gnaw” ended by the sentence “at all our mistakes.” In doing this Duffy allows the reader time to think and feel what the writer is going through. Where I felt my heart gnaw refers to the anxiety and grief he/she feels over mistakes made in the relationship.
Duffy uses personification again in the first line of the third stanza “If the darkening sky could lift”. Here lift is referring to the writers wish to have his/her mistakes taken away.
“But we will be dead, as we know” shows that death is a certainty to everyone, and wasting time mourning is possibly pointless. This is where readers can relate to Duffy, as these emotions, mistakes, that are explored through the poem could happen to
At the beginning of the poem, the speaker starts by telling the reader the place, time and activity he is doing, stating that he saw something that he will always remember. His description of his view is explained through simile for example “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets of their branches” (Updike), captivating the reader’s attention
In all poems the theme of Disappointment in love is seen throughout. Duffy focuses on the pain, despair and acrimony that love can bring, whereas Larkin focuses on the dissatisfaction before, during, and after a romantic relationship. Both Duffy and Larkin differ in tone. Duffy takes a more aggressive and dark stance to portray what love can do to a person after a disappointing love life. Duffy also uses this sinister and aggressive stance to try and convey sympathy for the persona from the audience in ‘Never Go Back’ and ‘Havisham’ Whereas Larkin conveys his discontent in love through his nonchalant and dismissive tone, but still concealing the pain that has been brought by love in ‘Wild Oats’ and ‘Talking in bed’.
More than death itself, Harwood’s poetry shows how many people fail to accept death. Their belief in immortality and fear of the end is also potrayed in Nightfall. Although when the subject of the poem is death, the words describe life, as if reluctant to face up to reality. The images are of suburbs, lights, birds and trees. Even with so many experiences, many of us will forever be ignorant seems to be the truth ringing perpetually though Harwood’s verses.
When he returned from the army he got enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. He received M.A. degree and began to work on his Ph.D. at the same time he started teaching at University of Minnesota and later at MacAlester College. He received Ph.D. from University of Washington for study on Charles Dickens and he did public readings. He taught at Hunter College in New York City from 1966 to 1980. He also worked as translator. He completed some of his poems as he was teaching in the college he states that he didn’t feel any conflict between the duties of teaching and the labors of writing books which are non-academic.
The poem starts out with the daughter 's visit to her father and demand for money; an old memory is haunting the daughter. feeding off her anger. The daughter calls the father "a ghost [who] stood in [her] dreams," indicating that he is dead and she is now reliving an unpleasant childhood memory as she stands in front of his
His tombstone says that he was a master of light verse. Archibald MacLeish contests that, saying that his poetry is so much more than that. Sure, some of his poems are lig...
The poem opens with an introduction of the speaker: “When my mother died I was very young, / And my father sold me while yet my tongue / Could scarcely cry ’weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!” (ll. 1-3). The speaker’s pathetic circumstance is stressed here, and he quickly wins the sympathy of the reader; Blake makes this possible by quickly relating some but doubtfully all the previous sorrow that the speaker has endured. First, his mother died when he, and perhaps she, too, was quite young, a common occurrence in Industrial Age England, given the dismal shape of the inner city, which was host to such problems as over-crowding, poor hygienic practices and sub-par means of sanitation—all of which ultimately led to the deaths of thousands. Second, his father apparently sold him, or, more likely, forced him to work to supplement the family’s income. Child Labor laws had yet to be enacted in England in 1789, s...
Not only the words, but the figures of speech and other such elements are important to analyzing the poem. Alliteration is seen throughout the entire poem, as in lines one through four, and seven through eight. The alliteration in one through four (whisky, waltzing, was) flows nicely, contrasting to the negativity of the first stanza, while seven through eight (countenance, could) sound unpleasing to the ear, emphasizing the mother’s disapproval. The imagery of the father beating time on the child’s head with his palm sounds harmful, as well as the image of the father’s bruised hands holding the child’s wrists. It portrays the dad as having an ultimate power over the child, instead of holding his hands, he grabs his wrists.
In this essay I will compare and contrast a collection of different poems by Carol Anne Duffy, Robert Browning, Ben Johnson and Simon Armitage.
The speaker started the poem by desiring the privilege of death through the use of similes, metaphors, and several other forms of language. As the events progress, the speaker gradually changes their mind because of the many complications that death evokes. The speaker is discontent because of human nature; the searching for something better, although there is none. The use of language throughout this poem emphasized these emotions, and allowed the reader the opportunity to understand what the speaker felt.
write about personal details of her life in her poems. However the poem One Art can arguably be
Poetry by William King, Martyn Lowery, Andrew Marvell, Liz Lochhead, John Cooper Clarke and Elizabeth Jennings
The poet uses end rhyming to give the poem a sing-song quality which enforces that the speaker is a child. “Young, tongue, weep, sleep” are examples of end rhymes from lines 1-4. At the end of the poem the speaker switches the sound quality to assonance where he uses the non-rhyming words “behind, wind” (16-17), “dark, work” (21-22), “warm, harm” (23-24)” which are near enough in sound to hear the echo of the syllables but illustrate opposing meanings. “Work” is “dark”, being “warm” should not cause “harm”. “When my mother died I was very young, / And my father sold me while yet my tongue / Could scarcely cry 'weep!’weep! 'weep! 'weep!” (1-2). Repeating the words “weep, weep, weep” sounds like a nursery rhyme, chorus of a song or maybe even the ringing of an alarm. We see the imagery of the young, crying child and also hear his grief. It is possible that the child is so young th...
‘The Falling Soldier’ is one of many poems by Duffy which deals with the subject of human mortality. Duffy expresses what could have been over a harsh reality; this is characteristic of her as also seen in ‘Last Post’ and ‘Passing Bells’ which both seem to be largely influenced by poet peer Wilfred Owen’s personal experiences of war. In the ‘The Falling Soldier’ Duffy paradoxically captures the essence of Robert Capa’s famous photograph of a man falling after being shot during the Spanish Civil War (1936). She employs the form of an impersonal narrative voice, using second person to question the possibilities, to explore the tragic and cyclical nature of war. The futile reality of war contrasts to her central theme in ‘The Bees’ anthology of bees symbolising the grace left in humanity.
Before one may analyse a poem, I feel that one must analyse its foundation, its inspiration, its very reason for being - in order to truly understand and appreciate the poets work. So, it stands to reason, that I must first analyse the quote from Shakespeare's will, before addressing the poem itself, as Carol Ann Duffy has drawn our attention to it.