History by Carol Ann Duffy (A2)
- Created by: phoebeb101
- Created on: 30-04-18 20:03
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- History- Carol Ann Duffy
- Title
- History meaning "his story"- from the masculine point of view and immediately excludes women
- Imagery
- Grotesque imagery to shock- 'smelling of pee' and 'not a tooth in her head' which suggests this is a victim of neglect
- 'birth' 'earth'- rhyming couplet and feminine- Mother Nature
- 'Fresh graffiti sprayed on her door'- on-going issue has stained out society due to graffiti’s difficulty to be washed away
- Use of Verbs
- 'Shuffled and limped' and 'wheezed and coughed'- emphasises the struggle for women's voices to be heard
- Metaphor
- Instant personification of 'she was History'- she is the symbol of female identity throughout history- neglected
- 'Bones in a bed'- agonising imagery to show ill-health
- Biblical References
- 'She'd seen them ease him down from the Cross'- reference to Mary Magdalene- although she had an important role in the Bible but she did not write any of the Gospels
- 'His (Christ's) mother gasping'- war and male ignorance has inadvertently affected other people throughout history
- Context
- 'Bannockburn, Passchendaele, Babi War, Vietnam'- wars across such a broad time scale 1314-1975 shows how misogyny is embedded within fabric of society
- Herstory- written from feminist perspective emphasising the role of woman or told from a female view
- Structure
- Parallel between first and last stanza- reinforces the toll that female exclusion has had in present day
- In each stanza- war triumphs which provides a rather pessimistic view
- Purpose
- Show the exclusion of women throughout history- forced to be mere observers
- Title
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