STANDING FEMALE NUDE
CAROL ANN DUFFY, 1985
“LARGE NUDE”
– Georges Braque
Videohttp://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=wzXm2wEzyww
STANDING FEMALE
NUDE
Six hours like this for a few francs.
Belly nipple arse in the window light,
he drains the color from me. Further to the right,
Madame. And do try to be still.
I shall be represented analytically and hung
in great museums. The bourgeoisie will coo
at such an image of a river-whore. They call it
Art.
is Georges. They tell me he's a genius.
There are times he does not concentrate
and stiffens for my warmth.
He possesses me on canvas as he dips the
brush
repeatedly into the paint. Little man,
you've not the money for the arts I sell.
Both poor, we make our living how we can.
I ask him Why do you do this? Because
Maybe. He is concerned with volume, space.
I have to. There's no choice. Don't talk.
I with the next meal. You're getting thin,
My smile confuses him. These artists
Madame, this is not good. My breasts hang
take themselves too seriously. At night I fill
slightly low, the studio is cold. In the tea-leaves myself
I can see the Queen of England gazing
with wine and dance around the bars. When it's
on my shape. Magnificent, she murmurs,
finished
moving on. It makes me laugh. His name
he shows me proudly, lights a cigarette. I say
Twelve francs and get my shawl. It does not look
like me.
MARKUP
Marking Key
imagery
alliteration
consonance
Six hours like this for a few francs.
diction
[Belly nipple arse in the window light],
he drains the color from me. Further to the right, enjambment
allusion
Madame. And do try to be still.
metonymy
I shall be represented analytically and hung
verbal irony
in great museums. The bourgeoisie will coo
at such [an image of a river-whore. They call it Art]. miscellaneous
hyperbole
asyndeton
Maybe. [He is concerned with volume, space.]
Juxtaposition
I with the next meal. You're getting thin,
Madame, this is not good. [My breasts hang
slightly low, the studio is cold]. In the tea-leaves
I can see the Queen of England gazing
on my shape. Magnificent, she murmurs,
moving on. It makes me laugh. His name
Marking Key
imagery
is Georges. They tell me he's a genius.
alliteration
consonance
There are times he does not concentrate
diction
and stiffens for my warmth.
He possesses me on canvas as he dips the brush enjambment
allusion
repeatedly into the paint. Little man,
metonymy
you've not the money for the arts I sell.
verbal irony
Both poor, we make our living how we can.
miscellaneous
I ask him Why do you do this? Because
hyperbole
I have to. There's no choice. Don't talk.
asyndeton
My smile confuses him. These artists
Juxtaposition
take themselves too seriously. At night I fill myself
with wine and dance around the bars. When it's finished
he shows me proudly, lights a cigarette. I say
Twelve francs and get my shawl. It does not look like me.
FORM
• Three stanzas
• 28 lines
• Free verse
• Two en rhymes
• Two with seven unrhymed lines
• One with fourteen unrhymed lines
• Regular enjambment
LITERAL MEANING
•
What’s happening?
• A woman (prostitute) is being painted naked in
a cold studio
• Two poor people that need to make a living
•
Speaker?/Poetic voice?
• The prostitute
•
Whom is she speaking?
• No one, narration, herself to herself
•
Speaker’s attitude?
• Discomfort with the situation, doing it for the money, feels as if she were
selling her body for sexual purposes
•
What does it allude too?
• George Braque
FIGURATIVE MEANING
• She is selling her body to art, which she sees equal to
selling herself for sex
• The act of being painted is portrayed as a sexual act
• In society he is of a higher class than she, but through
her eyes it is vice versa (feminist commentary)
• She is a starving prostitute and he is a genius of an artist,
he however cannot afford to spend the night with her even
though he can afford her as a model and spend time with
the rich in museums
• The prostitute knows that she will be observed in
museums; however, in the last line, the painting
ironically does not look like her- it is not her because
of the cubism style- she is distorted, he did not capture
her essence
DICTION
•
•
•
•
•
“he drains the color from me.”
“The bourgeoisie will coo/at such an image of a river-whore. They call it Art.”
“He is concerned with volume, space./I with the next meal.”
“he does not concentrate/and stiffens for my warmth.”
“He possesses me on canvas as he dips the brush/repeatedly into the paint.”
• “Little man,/you've not the money for the arts I sell.”
• “Both poor”
• “When it's finished/he shows me proudly. . . It does not look like me.”
ENJAMBMENT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“I shall be represented analytically and hung/in great museums.”
•
•
•
•
•
“I ask him Why do you do this? Because/I have to.”
“The bourgeoisie will coo/at such an image of a river-whore.”
"My breasts hang/slightly low, the studio is cold.”
“In the tea-leaves/I can see the Queen of England gazing/on my shape.”
“His name/is Georges.”
“There are times he does not concentrate/and stiffens for my warmth.”
“He possesses me on canvas as he dips the brush/repeatedly into the
paint.”
“These artists/take themselves too seriously.”
“At night I fill myself/with wine and dance around the bars.”
“When it's finished/he shows me proudly, lights a cigarette.”
“I say/Twelve francs and get my shawl.”
IRONY
•
“I shall be represented analytically and hung/in great museums.
The bourgeoisie will coo/at such an image of a river-whore. They
call it Art”
•
•
•
•
•
•
“He is concerned with volume, space.”
“Magnificent, she murmurs,/moving on. It makes me laugh.”
“His name/is Georges. They tell me he's a genius.”
Little man,/you've not the money for the arts I sell.”
“My smile confuses him.”
“It does not look like me.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• What do you think about the feminist comment in the
poem and how does it reflect on the 1980’s (when the
poem was written)?
• How does this poem relate to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest?
VS.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• www.dictionary.reference.com
• http://records.ancestry.com/George_Brach_records.ashx?pid=27657861
• http://www.helium.com/items/2304682-poetry-analysis-standing-female-nude-by-carol-ann-duffy
• www.a/ecak12.com/document/d/1Rv9-y34PhKcM41NSqeY42wXViTPflNpn014s8WbGNDE/edit
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d8/Georges_Braque.jpg/220pxGeorges_Braque.jpg
•
•
•
•
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/braque/lg_nude.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzXm2wEzyww
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cube/hd_cube.htm
http://www.memyart.com/thumb/phpThumb.php?src=../uploads/790_original.jpg&w=660&q=100&
aoe=1?74561896
• http://ioananegulescupenguinawards.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/cuckoo-nest.jpg
• http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01879/CarolAnnDuffy_jpg-_1879313c.jpg
• http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_49.70.34.jpg
• Choose two poems which approach a similar theme in
different ways.
• Explain the nature of these different approaches and
discuss which approach leads, in your opinion, to the more
pleasing poem.