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Summary Deep Dive into Work and History
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A thorough language analysis of Work and History, two key poems from the Feminine Gospels. Includes references to feminist and Marxist criticism.
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Feminine Gospels: A Deep Dive into Work and HistoryWork
● Work, The Light Gatherer and The Cord are a set of three, focussing on the theme of
motherhood and children
● Statements to use in analysis: motherhood=servitude, to be a mother= sacrificing
sense of self and identity
○ idea of losing identity similar to Map-Woman?
● Duffy has written a lot already on the theme of motherhood e.g. Before You Were
Mine explores what a woman has to sacrifice to bring another baby into the world
(perspective of child constructing mother's life before they were born to imagine
sacrifice made to give birth)
● Catrin: birth= confrontation, struggles of birth, separate identity, constriction that a
mother feels in her role
● Feminist Marxist: women suffer from 'dual burden' women are responsible for
domestic work as well as full time job. 'triple shift'- paid, domestic and emotion work-
soak up anger from men resulting from capitalist system to the point of enduring
violence.
● same theme of transformation as The Woman Who Shopped- transforms into mother
nature
● link to Diet- fairy tale (additive structure- gets bigger, adds one each stanza),
children's fabula) normal to horrifying. 'tall tales' to create a message
● listing technique- speed of work
● 'worked from home' starts with domestic work expected of women within patriachal
society, but this is extended over the course of the poem- reflecting constantly
increasing demands of mothers- dual then triple burden
● Frequent caesura pauses force speaker to take breaths- hard labour
● Historicist theory- followed development of family and materialism. Mother becomes
a slave over course of poem? Capitalism starts from stanza 4 'factory gates'- works
not for her family but for industrialist profits
● Complicates idea of 'reproduction' and 'means of production' symbolic of dual burden
● Important that she works in an 'ale-house' - capitalism creates leisure activities to
allow workers to soften the blow of working all day
● 'she was game' Duffy criticising women for allowing themselves to be exploited and
taken in by the idea of market capitalism. internal rhyme of 'harder' and 'larder' - so
hard for women to provide for their family AND the wider population- criticism of
capitalism
○ link to TWWS
● 'different kettle [of fish]' = vernacular, making her relatable to everyday women. End
of stanza, half complete idiom= so tired she's unable to finish a sentence.
● Stanzas 4 uses semantic field of industrial revolution- reflects revolution in role of
mother?
● Mothers becoming more deskilled- can only do one job- capitalist system becoming
more oppressive?
● Poems are about women but not feminist- more about injustices of an exploitative
capitalist system and criticism of those who are taken in by it
● 'for a thousand more' now feeding an economy that feeds society not her family
● Semantic field of cities 'streets' 'high rise flats' - urbanisation/industrialisation. Is it an
advancement or are we just working harder to be increasingly tired and lower skilled?
● 'hoovered fish' capitalism is destroying the natural world
○ contrast to TWWS- effects of capitalism on not just one woman but the whole
world
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