Higher, Duffy English Literature poems.

Summary of Carol Ann Duffy Poems.

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  • Created by: Emma
  • Created on: 23-10-10 09:18

Carol Ann Duffy - Havisham

Unrhymed- 4 stanzas

Lots of colour, reference to body parts and violent terminology.

Her hate grew from the man she loved- "Beloved sweetheart *******." - oxymoron.

Emotive language- "b-b-b-breaks." , "Nooooo" - distressed, mind has broken as well as her heart, crying.

"Not a day since then I haven't wished him dead."- jealousy, depressed for so long, hate, envy.

1 of 4

Carol Ann Duffy - Anne Hathaway.

Sonnet ends on a rhyming couplet-  "head, bed"

Moderate references to sex- "a verb dancing in the centre of a noun" , "as he held me upon that next best bed".- physically close.

"Romance and drama" - suggesting  that they weren't as in love as Anne Hathaway is saying- dreams that she was a character in one of Shakespeare's plays - jealousy- arguments- affair?

2 of 4

Carol Ann Duffy - Salome

In Salome Duffy could be hinting/saying that the modern world is going down hill this theme runs throughout Salome.

References to the Bible - "What was his name? Peter? Simon? Andrew? John?" , "like a lamb to the slaughter"

Hungover from last night can't remember what happened- "dry toast, no butter"

Realisation that she needs to clean up her act - "cut out the booze and the **** and the sex"

No smpathy/ no guilt - "ain't life a *****" - not ashamed of killing someone suggesting that she has done it before like in the first line of the poem- "I'd done it before" Enjambment- run on lines - conversational- sentences quite short - colloquial language(slang) - "booze" "batter".

3 of 4

Carol Ann Duffy - Before You Were Mine

Themes - parent/child relationships , generation gap , the way in which women are portrayed.

Poem directed at mother - "where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine." You showing that it is aimed at the mother. "sparkle" - in her eye? cheeky? charming? she will never forget her?.

The start of stanzas 1,2,3 have a time phrase from before she was born e.g. "a decade ahead"

"Cha cha cha! You'd teach me the steps on the way home from Mass" - showing that her Mum is fun - dancing but showing she can be serious - going to church.  

4 of 4

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