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A* Poetry Essay English Literature
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This is a Band 5 (A*) style essay to help develop your own ideas and can be used as a template for your essay.
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How does Duffy present relationships in her poetry? Analyse two poems from ‘Mean Time’ in detail.The way Carol Ann Duffy explores relationships in her poems is a rich subject for comparison, as each
poem puts an interesting spin on the way she, as the narrative voice, reacts to people, memories and
feelings, around and associated with her. On the one hand we can look at the acerbic treatment of the
relationship in ‘Havisham’, as she is jilted by her lover at the altar. This makes a rather extreme contrast
to ‘Before You Were Mine’, in which we can observe a romantic sentiment regarding her mother that is
almost a direct opposite of the sour, but down to earth tone in the former poem.
In ‘Before You Were Mine’, Duffy ponders in a nostalgic tone what her mother’s life must have been like
before her birth, without restriction and free from the constraint of her child’s ‘loud possessive yell’. The
mood conveyed is a very dreamy and surreal one, as her mother’s life is glamorised and described as if it
was one similar to a Hollywood star. Duffy contrasts the young woman’s glamorous life with the reality
of what motherhood brought to her life. In ‘Havisham’, this dreamy tone is absent, it is more of a
nightmarish tone which evokes feelings of regret and hate. This poem has a violent nature, the quote ‘I
haven’t wished him dead’ exemplifies violence. This violent and nightmarish tone juxtaposes the surreal
and dreamy tone illustrated in ‘Before You Were Mine’, showing how different types of relationships can
differ on the spectrum of emotion. However, a radical feminist may interpret this message differently,
they may see relationships as the cause of women’s destruction due to them being fundamentally
patriarchal, they argue ‘men are the enemy’.
In ‘Havisham’, the recall of events evokes an unpleasant tone that screams heartbreak. The poem being
written during the 1990s, when patriarchy was undeniably a major issue, causes Duffy to give an insight
on how a man can gravely affect a woman’s life. Through this Duffy shows that, although relationships
have the potential of love, they also have the potential to cause havoc to someone’s emotional state. In
this case the emotional state of a woman which was broken at the hands of a man, places emphasis on
the inequality of power between the two genders which resulted from patriarchy. The poem focuses on
heartbreak, the death of love, and how this can completely change one’s life. On the other hand, ‘Before
you were mine’, focuses on birth and how this can change one’s life to a great degree. In ‘Before You
Were Mine’, this change in life is based on one’s own actions, however in the former poem it seems that
this change was out of the persona’s control. Through this Carol Ann Duffy shows that relationships can
be unpredictable in terms of their outcome and the risk of damage is inevitable. However, someone may
interpret this differently, they may see the outcome of relationships as the cause of one’s own actions.
For example, they may see Havisham’s violent nature which is presented in the quote, ‘I stabbed at a
wedding cake’, as the cause of the tragic outcome of her relationship, completely denying it as the cause
of patriarchy.
In ‘Before You Were Mine’, a sense of naivety is illustrated. The quote, ‘the thought of me doesn’t
occur’, suggest that the birth of the persona was one that wasn’t thoroughly planned, and something as
consequential as this not being planned is a sign of naivety. The poem is set in the mid 20 th century, a
period where women’s education wasn’t of great importance. This contextual factor may contribute to
the naivety of the persona’s mother as she probably wasn’t educated or taught about the effects of
having a child. The extent of change the birth of the persona had on her mother’s life was not
anticipated by the mother, and the past tense use of the verb ‘laugh’ suggests this, the birth of the
persona removed the joy from her mother’s life. ‘Havisham’ is similar in this sense because the persona
was naive, and this caused the heartbreak she faced. The persona in Havisham was unaware of the pain
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