Summary
Summary The Woman Who Shopped poem analysis
- Module
- Feminine Gospels
- Institution
- AQA
analysis and annotations plus context and techniques
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StudentsThis imagery contrasts with the danger
and temptation of desire, symbolised by
the red apple. “First love’s heart” and a
The woman who shopped “bright” eye seem innocent, naive,
perhaps even childlike, suggesting this is
The stanza, as with the rest
of the poem, begins without
an adolescent stage, where the woman is
a capital letter, as if the Went out with a silver shilling, willing to buy, bought still growing and discovering, though this
woman is in the midst of the An apple, red as first loves heart, bright as her eye, process is already tainted by the
process that will form her Had plenty of change, purchased a hat with a brim, purchase of the apple.
shopping obsession. This is Walked with a suitor under its shadow, ditched him;
an example of in medias res. The hat with the brim is clearly more
This is ambiguous, suggesting the woman had the important than the “suitor”. Her
Internal and end rhyme flippant, immediate “ditched him”
opportunity to choose another path — as well as having
propels the poem
literal change from the purchase. indicates that she is already
rhythmically, for example
“buy” and “eye”, “brim” and
indifferent to relationships. The hat
“him”. A fast pace is significantly casts a shadow over her.
therefore achieved.
The silver shilling is The Woman Who Shopped begins by propelling the rhythm of the poem forward. Duffy uses
significant in that it is an a rhyme scheme, mixed with moments of internal rhyme, to speed up the meter. She rhymes
obsolete coin, certainly pre- ‘buy’ with ‘eye’, ‘brim’ with ‘him’, pushing the poem ever onward. In doing this, Duffy
twentieth century. So the centres The Woman Who Shopped on instantly rapid imagery, the poet moving through
materialistic urge began
items at a great pace.
centuries ago, as well as in
the woman’s immediate
past.
The woman’s saving is ironic as she promptly spends it. The description “dancing dress” is an
The apple is an allusion to example of hypallage or transferred
the Creation and the
Its purpose is only to buy more. Her haggling is part of
the process that she enjoys; she seems proud she epithet. It is the woman who is dancing,
temptation of Eve in not the dress, but this ironically suggests
Genesis 3-1. Although the bought the dress at a “snip”.
that the dress itself has life in the mind of
fruit isn’t named in the Bible
it is commonly described as The first coin mentioned was a silver shilling. The the speaker.
an apple. The implication is woman is now up to date with modern currency.
that the temptation of
desirable things — food,
possessions — has always
been a part of humankind. Saved up a pound, a fiver, a tenner, haggled the price
Of a dancing dress down to a snip, spent the remainder
On shoes, danced from the house down the street, tapped to the centre of
Town where the sales had commenced,
The verb ‘tapped’ is
The verbs “danced” and ambiguous; is the woman tap
“tapped” convey the woman’s dancing or tapping her pin
restlessness. number to pay?
Even the verbs that Duffy uses within these early stanzas come from a place of activity. She
writes ‘haggled’, ‘danced’ and ‘taped’, furthering the frenetic moment. The woman is
characterised as frantically running from sale to sale, spending all she can.
Students
,Students
- The woman’s motivation for finding a job is purely to earn money so she can shop. The repetition of
“wanted” reinforces this; she is purely acquisitive. The reference to the groom is buried in the string
of clauses relating to the paraphernalia and excitement of the wedding, the dress, the honeymoon.
He has no significance for her in emotional terms.
- The gold wedding ring flashes in the sun for her — but it is the gold that flashes, not the ring itself.
The groom is a matter of indifference.
- The rhyme in lines three and four propel the verse and increase the pace.
Applied for a job for the wage and the bonus, blew it
On clothes; wanted a wedding, a wedding dress, groom,
Married him , wanted a honeymoon, went on one,
Looked at the gold of her ring as it flashed in the sun;
Duffy uses asyndeton throughout these lines, listing item after item that the character has bought. The poet
moves through ‘wedding, a wedding dress, groom, married him,’ even monumental moments like ‘marriage’
just being an excuse to spend. Duffy uses asyndeton to further the chaos of the woman’s life, not giving her
time to pause and take in everything she is doing. Consumerism is who she is, Duffy exaggerating the
stereotype of the shopaholic woman.
She “flew away home” could refer to the airplane but also suggests her
insubstantial, flighty nature. The purpose of her marriage is purely to
Another asyndetic list — without conjunctions — furnish the house. That she “shuffles his plastic with her” implies that she
reinforces the acquisitive nature of the woman. appropriated his cards, in effect married him only for his money.
Initially she chooses items that furnish a home. Later
her purchases become more bizarre, items she can’t Duffy creates a neat association with gambling with the verbs “shuffle”
possibly need. and “deal”. She is gambling with her marriage.
The enjambement from the previous stanza
indicates her ongoing purchases and the
Flew away home to furnish each room of the house, uncontrolled nature of her obsession. She
Shuffle his plastic with hers, deal them out in the shops also moves from the functional objects of
For cutlery, crockery, dishwashers, bed linen, TV sets, the previous stanza to more decorative, and
Three- piece suites, stereos, microwaves, telephones therefore less necessary, items.
The verb “shrugged” indicates that she has
no interest in controlling her spending.
Duffy uses asyndeton throughout these lines, listing item after item that the character has bought. The poet
moves through ‘wedding, a wedding dress, groom, married him,’ even monumental moments like ‘marriage’
just being an excuse to spend. Duffy uses asyndeton to further the chaos of the woman’s life, not giving her
time to pause and take in everything she is doing. Consumerism is who she is, Duffy exaggerating the
stereotype of the shopaholic woman.
Students
, Students
The woman even begins to use her husband’s money, ‘shuffling his plastic with hers’. This relates to credit
cards, the wife using both hers and his in order to continue her buying spree. The confusion implied in
‘shuffling’ perhaps suggests that the woman has done this without letting him know. In the following stanzas,
the woman’s life begins to fall apart, this being the first moment she steps over the line.
She borrows money to
continue spending when she
can’t afford it. “Fixed up” could Duffy neatly enjambs this
suggest something immoral or stanza with the next, implying
shady about this transaction. the unending nature of her
shopping obsession.
Curtains and mirrors and rugs; shrugged at the cost
Then fixed up a loan, filled up the spare room with boxes
Of Merchandise, unopened cartons, over- stuffed bags;
Went on the internet, shopped in America, all over Europe,
Her shopping is clearly
out of control, items she
doesn’t need, not
bothering even to open
the boxes. The Internet
frees her up to shop Across these stanzas, Duffy expands the scale of the woman’s shopping habit. From the early
from other countries; ‘silver shilling’, she has now progressed ‘all over Europe’. Duffy is perhaps suggesting that
the habit can be even internet shopping has only further enabled this stereotype. Of course, shopping is now
more readily fed and accessible from anywhere that has an internet connection.
indulged. But the
implication is that this
doesn’t broaden her or Earlier, “tapped” referred to her joyfully dancing, having just bought a “dancing dress”, whereas now
satisfy her. She has no she is simply “tapping” a card.
interest in visiting
overseas countries. Her only joy comes from purchases. There is no longer mention of experiences, loves, interests. “All
night” emphasises that it has consumed her full attention and energy, making harder for her to sleep.
The objects arrive, but “they” is
ambiguous and could refer to
bailiffs who have come to call in her
Her consumption is leeching out debt. The sudden shift to “she fled”
into everything. The glitz and
is dramatic and emphasises a
beauty of what she buys are Tapping her credit card numbers all night, ordering drastic change in her life.
thin facades, hiding something Swimming pools, caravans, saunas; when they arrived,
dreary, as represented by the
Stacked up on the lawn, she fled, took to the streets, “took to the streets” could suggest
rain. The glamour of shopping is
meaningless.
Where the lights from the shops ran like paint in the rain this change is homelessness, or
possibly even prostitution. Her
situation has become desperate.
Students
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