Essay
Examine the view that the poems that follow ‘The Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High’ in the collection have nothing to say about the position of women in society.
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Examine the view that the poems that follow ‘The Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High’ in the collectionhave nothing to say about the position of women in society.
You must refer to at least two poems in your answer.
[25 marks]
In the entire collection of feminine gospels by Carol Ann Duffy, women are presented as a necessity
to society, but their position is widely discussed throughout each poem as Duffy challenges the
typical stereotypes. The entire collection seeks to empower and support women, and this is evident
from the very beginning with the opening poem ‘The Long Queen’. The Long Queen being the
opening poem to the collection is significant as it targets all women rather than just one type of
woman, which is even conveyed through the asyndetic list ‘witches, widows, wives, mothers of all
these’. Whilst Duffy’s entire collection can be used to support and empower women, as well as
discuss the restrictive stereotypes that women are forced within, the poems that follow ‘The
Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High’ become more general. The poems that follow do not explicitly
discuss the position of women in society which is evident in ‘white writing’ and ‘death and moon’,
but rather discuss the general narrow mindedness of current modern society.
In order to discuss what the following poems have to say about the position of women in society, we
must first consider the topics of each poem after ‘The Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High’ that becomes
Duffy’s key focus. Such as ‘White Writing’ which depicts the struggles of a homosexual relationship
when living in a heteronormative society. In ‘White Writing’ Duffy describes the secrecy that is
necessary due to the illegality of gay marriage, due to the Buggary Act. Duffy’s use of a refrain
anaphoric line ‘I write them in white’ is significant in the poem as it uses the conceit of ‘writing in
white’ to depict the extent of secrecy that a homosexual couple must go through. Whilst gay
marriage may be illegal Duffy describes the love, they have for one another to be equally magical, to
the extent that they consider themselves to be married.
The extensive use of transient imagery suggests the momentary nature of a homosexual
relationship. The use of transient imagery such as ‘wind’, ‘sand’ and ‘foam on a wave’ further
highlights the secretive nature in which Duffy judges’ society for forcing upon them. This discusses
the restrictive nature, which is forced upon them by heteronormativity within society, but does not
highlight the position of women within society in which the previous poems discussed.
Duffy uses intertextuality to show the deep delicacy of love that is presented within the poem. ‘Palm
against palm’ is an intertextual reference to the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare in which
Shakespeare describes the love that comes from the simple action of holding hands ‘palm to palm is
holy palmers kiss’. Duffy references this iconic heterosexual relationship to convey the normality and
similarity of a homosexual relationship. Duffy wishes to communicate to society that all love is equal
and that love should not be restricted. Whilst Duffy is discussing the position of the LGBTQIA+
community within society, Duffy does not reference the position of women in society within this
poem.
Whilst ‘White Writing’ discusses the prominent issues that evolve from society, ‘Death and Moon’
discusses the finality and unavoidability of death. The constant memento mori references within the
poem suggest an unfriendly and angry relationship with the idea of death. Whilst ‘Death and Moon’
may not be a direct reference to women in any form, the poem has a dedicatee that is the widowed
woman of the apostrophe addressee. The memento mori references ‘dark’, ‘frozen’ and ‘ghosts’
suggest the untouchable aspects of death that has no explanation.
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