“I'm not interested, as a poet, in
c
ENGLISH LITERATURE POETRY: CAROL ANN DUFFY
words like 'plash' - Seamus Heaney
words, interesting words. I like to
use simple words but in a
complicated way” – Carol Ann Duffy.
Poem
‘Answer’
‘Before You
Were Mine’
‘Brothers’
‘Dream of a Lost
Friend’
‘Head of English’
‘In Mrs
Tilscher’s Class’
‘In Your Mind’
‘Liar’
Summary
Duffy poses a series of possible identities for another person. This person could be made of
stone, fire, water or air. Duffy offers images of what the person would be like if s/he were
made of those elements. She finally says that if the person were any or all of these elements
or even s/he were death itself, then the answer would be the same as in each stanza: ‘yes,
yes’.
Duffy describes a photograph of her mother and her friends, taken ten years before Duffy
was born. Her mother looks like Marilyn Monroe. She goes onto image how her mother would
have been when she was a teenager: going to dances, meeting boys and getting into trouble for
staying out late. Duffy admits that her own birth changed her mum. She recalls playing with
her mum’s red shoes and dancing with her mum on the way back home from church. She
recalls that she always wished she had known her mum when she was younger and more
carefree.
Each stanza gives different emotions in the poem: 1 st- positive; 2nd – a hint of negativity; 3rdgradual downhill of relationship and 4 th – final Separation. This poem is about the relationship
between possibly Duffy and her brothers. When they are young, there is a sense of unity and
closeness in light-hearted opening. However, as the poem carries on, the distance between
Duffy and her brothers is growing apart. They are growing up from the life they’ve lived. She
reaches a point where there are no memories left for them, ‘I don’t have a photograph’, but
merely repeats their names without any emotions. The poem ends by isolating Duffy from her
brothers completely and she finds them unfamiliar. They become the passive victims of age as
only the time owns them united.
Duffy recalls a dream in which she met a friend, who was – in the dream at least – dead. They
appeared to move through the hospital, in the dream. Duffy goes on to mention how the AIDS
virus is living within people, who will one day be killed by it. At the end of the poem, Duffy
says that the feeling of hope that she had in the poem lingered with her after she awoke, even
though the hope was only a dream-logic hope, which was unreal.
A teacher speaks the poem, as if addressing a class about a poet who has come to read to the
students. She offers instructions about how the class should behave. She passes some rude
comments about the kind of poetry she expects her visitor to offer. She makes reference to
dead white male poets: Keats and Kipling. The final stanza seems to come after the poet has
performed. The teacher dismisses her carelessly.
Duffy describes how things were in Mrs Tilscher’s class. She describes geography and art
lessons. She mentions the books, the decorations and the gold stars that Mrs Tilscher would
award. In the second half of the poem, Duffy mentions the frog’s reproductive cycle. She
finishes by describing the end of the summer term and referring to a thunderstorm brewing
and splitting the sky as she left for the holiday.
Here Duffy describes a daydream of visiting another country. She describes someone
imagining escaping from a dull English day. She takes us on a journey to a seaside town, where
everything seems simple. She goes on to describe living in this foreign place, having a job
there. She describes a journey home from work in this other country. Finally, she takes us
back to a desk on a rainy day in England.
Duffy describes someone who, apparently, told lots of lies. Susan would claim to be a man.
She had an ordinary life in many ways, but she had a tendency to make up wild stories. At the
end of the poem, Duffy tells us that Susan was taken away in an ambulance when she,
apparently, abducted a child. She was sentences to prison, where she was assessed by a
psychiatrist, about whom she made up wild lies.
‘Mrs Lazarus’
‘Nostalgia’
‘Stealing’
‘The Good
Teachers’
‘War
Photographer’
‘Who Loves You’
‘Wintering’
Lazarus is a character from St John’s Gospel, whom Jesus Christ brings back to life at the
request of his sisters. Here, Duffy imagines that Lazarus had a wife, who was not that happy
to see him come back to life. Lazarus’ wife describes her terrible grief when her husband
died. She describes dealing with being a widow, including dealing with her husband’s clothes,
which Duffy describes in modern terms. She describes how over several months Mrs Lazarus
began to get used to her loss. Then Mrs Lazarus started dating a ‘schoolteacher’. However,
one evening she sees a crowd rushing towards her, announcing that Lazarus is alive again.
Lazarus’ face is described as displaying ‘horror’ and his ‘stench’ is highlighted. The final line
describes Lazarus as a ‘cuckold’ – a man whose wife has been unfaithful to him – and someone
who has been ‘disinherited’.
This poem creates a legend, claiming to show how nostalgia was invented. Duffy describes how
some people left their home and felt a new feeling: a sense of loss and longing. She calls these
people ‘mercenaries’ – a word normally used to describe the cynical money-grabbers who sell
their services without conscience. Duffy goes on to describe how the feeling of nostalgia
began to be recognised and was eventually given a name. In the last part of the poem she
describes various people struggling to deal with memory and loss. Finally, she describes the
return home of one of the mercenaries, who finds that things in his/her homeland have
changed.
A thief describes the most unusual thing s/he stole - a snowman. S/he describes his own lack
of emotion and her/his desire to take was s/he feels s/he deserves. The thief goes on to
describe some of her/his other activities and thefts. S/he returns to the time when s/he
stole a snowman and describes the disappointing end to that event. S/he mentions some other
things s/he has stolen. The poem ends with a direct address to the reader or an unidentified
listener, in which the thief acknowledges that someone hearing what s/he has said would not
understand it.
The poem begins by referring to a school photograph being taken in different sections, such
that it is possible to run round and appear on the same photograph in two places. Duffy then
begins to discuss various specific teachers. The term ‘virtuous women’ suggests that his may
not be about talented, well-liked teachers, so much as teachers who think of themselves as
being morally superior to their naughty students. Duffy mentions Miss Ross in somewhat
neutral terms, but she expresses love for Miss Pirie, whose teaching inspires the students – or
the narrator at least. Miss Sheridan, Miss Appleby and Miss Webb are contrasted to Miss
Pirie. Then Duffy refers to ‘good teachers’ behaving in a ‘snobbish’ fashion, further
suggesting that ‘good’ here refers not to teaching ability but to the teachers’ self-importance.
The final stanza seems to dramatise various clashes between teachers and students, with the
teachers claiming to know best and the students looking to escape the restrictions of school.
Duffy describes a photographer processing his pictures in England, having returned from a
war abroad. His images are terrible and horrific, but he seems detached and unemotional as
he gets on with his job. As he develops his pictures, he recalls some of what he has
experienced. Then he thinks about how he will sell his pictures to a Sunday newspaper, and
Duffy describes how the images will be seen as part of an ordinary Sunday. Finally, Duffy
describes the photographer flying over a country that he will photograph, seemingly distant
and detached from the horrors, from which he makes a living.
A first person narrator seems to be addressing a lover who is travelling without her. She
warns her lover about the dangers of flight. She refers to other dangers in a general, slightly
obscure way. She repeats a kind of prayer to safety. She seems to be wishing her lover a
safe journey home.
This poem describes wintry scenery as a metaphor for a relationship that is in trouble. Duffy
uses images of death at the start of the poem. She then describes a night sky and the dawn
that follows. In the second section Duffy describes the garden in winter and relates this to
feelings of regret. In the third section, Duffy refers to snow, then another, more hopeful,
dawn and some signs that spring is on its way, finally suggesting that the lovers make up with a
kiss.