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Feminine Gospels- Table of Quotes and Themes
A table containing a range of themes present in Feminine Gospels and related quotes from a range of the poems.
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Themes: DuffyIndividuals cut off Tall, Diet, History- left ‘alone’ and ‘half dead’, cut off from outside world in the four walls of
from society her home
Beautiful- women in position of power yet cut off from everyone else as a result, must
behave certain way and only associate with certain people
The Long Queen- sees her subjects as children, suggestion she is lonely
Stafford Girls- Dr Bream cut off from society when the school closes down, begins to fade
away with the school
“She woke alone”- Diet
“Her skin was her own small ghost, a shroud to be dead in”- Map woman
“She posed alone in front of the Taj Mahal, betrayed, beautifully pale”- Beautiful
"Unreachable by prayer, even if poems are prayers. Unseeable in the air, even if souls are
stars"- Death and the Moon, sense of loneliness on a universal scale
Loud- her voice silenced; she cannot verbally access the mainstream due to being a
woman
Conflict Man, vs man, man vs self
Beautiful- Trojan war with Helen of Troy, Cleopatra and Caesar
History- past conflicts she has seen e.g., “witnessed the wars and the bloody crusades”
Loud- Pakistan War, “smugglers to take them across the border to Quetta, a Pakistani
frontier”
Stafford Girls- teachers vs students, particular Dr Bream vs change
Position of women in The Long Queen, Beautiful, Tall, Work, Sub, Anon, History- by-passer, simply watched
society history ‘saw’, ‘seen’, not to play an active role
“Took in washing, sewing and ironing”-Work, expecting to be a stereotypical housewife,
typical chores
“Mother to millions now”- Work
“Maybe a nurse, a nanny, a nun”- Anon
“Nursing the precious egg”
Stafford Girls, Mrs Mackay, plus all the teachers branching into other professions they wish
rather than their expected teacher role, finding their own place not abiding by expectations
“She wrote her maiden name in the sand”
“Danced her away like a groom with a bride”
Expectation of the Long Queen, Helen of Troy to marry
“The Lord, the baronet, the count, then taken the Time for a husband”
Expectation of the long queen to bear an heir- “childbirth: most to lie on the birthing beds”
Other roles of women- “spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses, witches, widows, wives,
mothers”
Cultural Differences Gender- different treatment of male and female
Male ‘larger’ role and active, female simply remain meek, quiet and/ or part of the
household, no more
Expectations of women-
“Spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses, witches, widows, wives, mothers”
Inequality “Act like a fucking princess”
“Beauty is fame/fate”
Because they’re beautiful and of different social status they’re expected to act in a different
way
Expectations of women-
“Spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses, witches, widows, wives, mothers”
Insecurity Diet, Map-woman
“Where she’d grown as a child, she covered it up”- ashamed of her identity?
“She was anorexia’s true daughter”
“Half a stone, skipping breakfast”
Trying to fit into society’s standards, uncomfortable in their own skin
Lack of resolution Stafford Girls- Dr Bream fading away with the school, Mrs Mackay swept away, Miss Dunn
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