Summary
Summary the diet analysis and annotations
- Module
- Feminine Gospels
- Institution
- AQA
the diet analysis and annotations
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StudentsShe’s eternal. Almost other- worldly. Perhaps she is eternal. It is also a formal hint at the
immortality and presentation as a goddess, a universal “queen” to all women
As the poem develops, this universality is shown to be her most important and significant
The Long Queen aspect
Could be a reference to queen Elizabeth
- Was 25 when she was crowned, taking
The Long Queen couldn’t die. control of a fractured + impoverished
Young when she bowed her head kingdom left to her by her father
For the cold weight of the crown, she’d looked
At the second son of the earl, the foreign prince, The crown = described as a “cold weight”- signifies
The heir to the duke, the lord, the baronet, the count, the heavy and lonely responsibility placed on a
Then taken time for a husband. Long live the Queen. young single woman
Perhaps her immortality acts as a refrain
throughout the poem- links to the first line The asyndetic list = crisp + concise- reflection of her
intelligence and shrewdness
An answer to the question that begins the
Her ruling was embedded in every aspect of their lives. This suggests that stanza: this listing implies unity between all
every single personality and every female of whatever status was members of the female gender
welcomed in her reign.
In addition, Duffy uses traditionally misogynistic
The reference to “wild kicks” is a form of rebellion against the patriarchal insults such as “spinsters and hags” to take
tradition of women viewed by men as gentle and quiet . The Queen is ownership of patriarchal control. Therefore, the
enforcing female solidarity and rebellion against male society Queen is accepting of all women, even those
rejected by men
The list ends, significantly, with the “mothers of
all these” affirming the importance of the role of
What was she queen of? Women, girls, motherhood
Spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses,
Witches, widows, wives, mothers of all these. The Queen’s maternal instinct dominated.
Her word of law was in their bones, in the graft She refused to judge; her female subjects
Of their hands, in the wild kicks of their dancing. were always her children.
No girl born who wasn’t the Long Queen’s always child.
Students
, Students
Queen both “ruled” and “reigned” simultaneously indicates the active +
passive nature of her position. She has a formal role as representative of
the women in her kingdom, but also the power to go “out and about…
sorting the bad from the good.”
This adverb “unseen” creates a sense of mystery Semantic field of fantasy- castle tower, wood-
associated w fairy tales.
The “dark heart of the wood” suggests evil
needing to be exorcised as well as a place of
terror where children have to find their way
Unseen, she ruled and reigned; some said
In a castle, some said in a tower in the dark heart - Another example of hypophora
Of a wood, some said out and about in rags, disguised, - The laws passed in the reign of Elizabeth
Acts as a Sorting the bad from the good. She sent her explorers away = enumerated
refrain In the creaking ships and was queen of more, of all the dead - Duffy introduces the first “law” +
throughout When they lived if they did so female. All hail to the Queen suggests that Queen Elizabeth created a
the poem, society in which “a girl” would feel safe
perhaps
reinforcing May imply that she ruled over the colonists + her country,
her especially the women whom she protected. Duffy’s mode of
immortality
expression indicates a special rs between the queen + the The Elizabethan era was one of discovery +
females in her land adventure, w the 1st colonies set up in North
America during her reign. The “creaking ships”
suggests dangerous, ill- prepared voyages.
Elizabeth was Queen of the colonies
What were her laws? Childhood: whether a girl automatically, as well as monarch of England
Awoke from the bad dream of the worst, or another
Swooned into memory, bereaved, bereft, or a third one
Wrote it all down like a charge- sheet, or the fourth never left,
Scouring the markets and shops for her old books and toys-
No girl growing who wasn’t the apple for the Long Queen’s eye.
An intertextual biblical link to
The alliterative device = used Zechariah 2:8- “.. apple of His eye”-
again- string hard “g’s” to suggest hints the “long queen” goddess- like
strength in maturing process status; a protective deity that
watches over girls and women
Students
, Students
The second law addresses a taboo subject of menstruation- ‘when a girl first bled”
- the long queen ignores the taboo surrounding this subject that was hedged with secrecy and shame
- This applied to 1960s when Duffy was growing up
- The long queen presents menstruation positively, as related to her own “royal red” colour + royal lineage = descendants
- There = an implication that every girl/ woman = by virtue of bleeding in her own right
The phrase “proof of intent” foreshadows childbirth.
Biologically, menstruation indicated the body’s intent to
beer children
Moon + monthly waxing and waning, relates to
Blood: proof, in the Long Queen’s colour, menstruation
Royal red, or intent; the pain where a girl The moon has traditionally + mythologically
First bled to be insignificant, no cause for complaint, been associated w women in figure of Selene/
And this to be monthly, linked to the moon, till made age Luna
When the law would change. Tear: salt pearls, bright jewels
For the Long Queen’s fingers to weigh ad she countered their sorrow.
Selfless and muliebrity
- The laws relating to childbirth recognise
the agony + danger of giving birth
- There = no romanticising the process;
Childbirth: most to lie on the birthing beds, inelegant, perilous + painful
Push till the room screamed scarlet and children - Even the birthing room is personified-
Bawled and slithered into their arms, sore flowers; “screamed scarlet” = an example of
Some to be godmother, aunt, teacher, teller of tall tales, synaesthesia- combining colour and
But all who were there to swear that the pain was worth it. sound- the sibilant ‘s’ mimic the sound
No mother bore daughter not named to honour the Queen. of screaming
- The oxymoronic ‘sore flowers’ could
refer ironically to the babies, presented
unromantically- ‘bawled and slithered’
- It may also be a reference to the trad of
women being presented in the
patriarchy as delicate + gentle, like
flowers.
- But childbirth = painful + dangerous, +
women have to be strong to endure it
Students
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