AS Duffy Revision Notes
“The Woman who shopped”
Carol Ann Duffy
Summary
Another surreal story, this time of a shopaholic. As
her addiction to shopping builds to a crescendo,
with suggestions of her homelessness, she appears
to turn into a shop
This seems to be an indictment of
western consumerism and our
addiction to shopping.
The ridiculously absurd ending seems to
suggest that our society’s rampant
consumerism is just that: ridiculously
absurd.
“silver shilling”
alliteration
“silver shilling”
Internal
rhyme
“silver shilling”
“credit card”
Contrast – shows
how society’s
consumerism has
got worse
“silver shilling”
“credit card”
Contrast – shows
how society’s
consumerism has
got worse
“walked with a
suitor… ditched
him ”
“wanted a wedding…
married him ”
“walked with a
suitor… ditched
him ”
“wanted a wedding…
married him ”
Dismissive
references to her
relationships
Dismissive
references to her
relationships
“walked with a
suitor… ditched
him ”
“wanted a wedding…
married him ”
shows her inability to form
relationships as she has
replaced human needs with
her addiction to buying
useless objects.
Dismissive
references to her
relationships
“walked with a
suitor… ditched
him ”
“wanted a wedding…
married him ”
shows her inability to form
relationships as she has
replaced human needs with
her addiction to buying
useless objects.
“Light blazed
from her now”.
“Light blazed
from her now”.
When the woman transforms into
a shop at the bathetic climax of
the poem, the reader is left
confused and shocked by the
transformation. Yet the woman
seems happy and at ease.This
perhaps reflects the message that
compulsive buying does not bring
happiness, and in fact the only
logical outcome that would come
from such excessive purchasing is
a ridiculous one!
“crowds would
queue at her
cunt”
“crowds would
queue at her
cunt”
The hugely offensive language
used to describe her shop’s
doors
“crowds would queue at her
cunt”
is particularly shocking. It is
ambiguous as to what this
phrase mean. IT suggests the
poetic voice’s revulsion at the
consumerism peddled by
department stores, and almost
equates consumerism to
prostitution.
“crowds would
queue at her
cunt”
The hugely offensive language
used to describe her shop’s
doors
“crowds would queue at her
cunt”
is particularly shocking. It is
ambiguous as to what this
phrase means. It suggests the
poetic voice’s revulsion at the
consumerism peddled by
department stores, and almost
equates consumerism to
prostitution.
THE FORM
The poem is structured in 4 line stanzas, with a fairly
strict 12 syllable rhythmic structure. The almost
balladic form emphasises the feeling of an adventurous
story or tale, and the rhythm maintains a feeling of
pace which builds to the climax at the end of the first
sentence – at the end of the seventh stanza. At this
point the surreal imagery begins, and the bathos is
ridiculous. The ridiculous transformation emphasises
the ridiculous nature of society’s rife modern-day
consumerism.
THE STRUCTURE
The first half of the poem is all one sentence. The fact
the title: “The woman who shopped” runs straight into
the first line “went out with a silver shilling”
immediately begins the poem with a fast pace. The
seven stanza sentence is crammed with caesurae
emphasising the lists of the material objects that she
bought: “cutlery, crockery, dish washers, bed linen, TV
sets” while the frequent enjambement adds to feeling
of frenetic purchasing that, like the lines of poetry,
seem to have no end.