Carol Ann Duffy was born on December 23, 1955 in Glasgow, Scotland. She is a British poet
whose well-known and well-liked poetry engaged such topics as gender and oppression,
expressing them in familiar, conversational language which made her work accessible to a
variety of readers. This award-winning Scottish poet served as the first woman poet laureate of
Great Britain in 2009-2019. Her poetry mainly has a strong feminist edge.
The collection of poems by Carol Ann Duffy entitled The World’s Wife was first published in
1999 and presents stories, myths, fairy tales and characters in Western culture from the point
of view of women, very often giving voice to the hitherto unsung women close to famous men.
Much of literature through the ages and even today is patriarchal, presenting the world from a
male perspective. These poems were intended by Carol Ann Duffy to rectify that, to highlight
the fact that women have long been ignored or silenced. The poems in the collection are witty,
satirical, playful and complex. These poems present the female perspective on stories where
the male character has traditionally taken center stage.
Demeter is the final poem in the collection and differs from the others in that it is purely lyrical.
There is no trace of satire or barbed criticism of men. The poem is in essence a celebration of
the mother-daughter relationship and of rebirth.
According to Greek mythology Demeter is the mother goddess of corn and fertility. Hades, the
god of the Underworld, abducted Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, with the intention of
marrying her. Demeter’s grief at her loss is such that she plunges the earth into endless winter.
Zeus intervenes and commands Hades to return Persephone. Reluctant to release her, Hades
forces Persephone to eat pomegranate seeds, food of the dead. As a result, she can spend only
six months out of the year with her mother; the other six months she is destined to spend in
the realm of Hades. To the Greeks, the return of Persephone from the underworld symbolized
the return of life in the spring and the period of time she spent in the Underworld, is signified
by the season of winter.
There are 4 tercets in this poem and it ends with a rhyming couplet. The key themes in this
poem are nature, grief and mother-daughter relationships.
The poem begins with the voice of Demeter. Rather than addressing an audience of women in
an intimate and sardonic conversation, this poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue. It is a
spare opening – not a word is wasted – in which Demeter is in despair. The opening line ‘where
I lived-winter and hard earth’. The words ‘hard earth’, ‘cold stone’ ‘granite’ and ‘flint’ are
appropriate for sorrow and explaining Demeter’s grief of Persephone absence. Most of the
words are monosyllabic and masculine-sounding with hard consonants.
The first and second stanzas also describes her setting and the materialistic surroundings that
replicate her feelings. Her emotions of misery, anguish and sufferings are portrayed through
the usage of dark imagery again shown through the words, ‘hard earth’ ‘cold stone room’ and
‘frozen lake’. They represent her grief, and how she cannot break out of it even if she tries to.
This imagery also reflects the harsh cold of winter where Demeter’s grief is literal winter,
referring to the original myth. This relation to winter may have also been linked to Demeter's
depression. Demeter’s heart, the source of love, seems detached, as if the grief is outside
herself, and is ineffective even in breaking the ice of the frozen lake. The attempt to ‘break the
ice’ is juxtaposed with the related ‘broken heart’ which are both linked ideas. There are more
hard consonants, notably in ‘break’, ‘broken’, ‘skimmed’ and ‘lake’ to convey the sense of harsh
pain. The frozen water is a metaphor for life ‘on hold’, in that nothing can germinate or grow,
again referring back to the seasons and how there is no cultivation of life in winter.
The next two stanzas represent a shift in mood and emotions. The word ‘she’ refers to
Persephone; the moment she appears from a ‘long, long way’. This is referenced to distance
and time. As Persephone walks towards her the tone softens conveying the re-awakening of
life. The repetition ‘my daughter, my girl’ is emotional and deeply moving. The poem is a
celebration of motherhood and the maternal bond. Persephone’s feet are bare, perhaps to
signify her closeness to the earth which, as she treads, will come alive. She brings ‘spring
flowers’ not only as a gift to her mother but also to represent life and growth and fertility. The
air softens and warms, because Persephone is bringing the spring. Duffy uses soft ’s' and ’m'
sounds, and long and lingering vowels as in ‘warmed’ and ‘moved’. The mood has transformed
to a softer feminine and joyful one. Persephone's presence breaks Demeter’s grief. Through
natural imagery, this is compared to how Spring breaks winter. There is also a softer, soothing
tone in the poem now that Demeter is reunited with her daughter.
The final stanza is a rhyming couplet. In Greek mythology, Persephone is represented by the
new moon, which is the symbol of girlhood, youth and spring. In this couplet, the sky and moon
are personified. The ‘smiling’ sky and the ‘small shy mouth’ convey an appealing sweetness;
beautiful vivid images. The rhyming of ‘soon’ and ‘moon’ gives a sense of completeness and
resolution. There is no doubt that the earth will continue to awaken to renewed warmth and
fertility. The personification of nature is there for the welcome of Persephone. It suggests that
even nature has been anticipating her return.
This poem is filled with imagery, personification and several other poetic devices. It shows the
significance of Persephone in Demeter's life. The entire poem does not have a negative tone, as
the return of Persephone is signified by the change in tone. There is a joyous tone towards the
end which is different from most of Carol Ann Duffy's poems. It represents the motherdaughter relationship portrayed through Demeter and Persephone. Moreover, it shows
Demeter's emotions and the effect of the absence of her daughter on her.
The portrayal of Demeter’s love for Persephone is moving and memorable. It is also an
appropriate and positive ending to the collection of poems in ‘The World’s Wife’ which
celebrate the female bond and support.