Elvis’s Twin Sister
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• The poem has two subtitles. The first is a line from Elvis
Presley's 1961 hit song Are You Lonesome Tonight?
• The second is a statement by the female singer
Madonna.
• Elvis Presley did not have a twin sister in reality but the
sister whom Carol Ann Duffy imagines for him is very
different from Madonna.
•
Instead she is modest and simple, though with a
cheerful character, rather like Elvis's public persona.
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• The poem plays on the humorous contrast between the life,
manners and dress of the nun, and the flamboyance of rock and roll.
•
For example, despite her nun's vow, Sister Presley swings her hips
in the same way as Elvis, though perhaps without the same effect.
•
She wears a habit and carries a rosary, but she also has the blue
suede shoes immortalized by Elvis's 1956 rendition of the song of
this name.
• The Gregorian chant (sung unaccompanied) has simple melodies,
like Elvis's songs, but is otherwise very different in its calm and
gentle mood, and its Christian lyrics.
•
In the early days of Rock and Roll, its critics called it the Devil's
music.
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• The sister identifies the convent with Elvis's home, GracelandElvis chose the name Graceland because of his own Christian
belief. Her exclamation “Lawdy” is a popular version of “Praise
the Lord”.
• Perhaps the biggest difference between sister and brother,
though, is that, among the sisters of the convent, no one is ever
“lonesome” - and it is a long time since she “walked/down Lonely
Street/towards Heartbreak Hotel”. (This is another reference to
Elvis's music - he recorded Heartbreak Hotel in 1956. Elvis is
listed as co-writer of this and many of his other hits, but did not
really write it. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, insisted that
Elvis have his name added so that he would receive writing
royalties.)
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• The form of the poem is quite regular - five line
stanzas with occasional rhymes.
• Sometimes these are quite amusing as when
Duffy uses the Southern sound of “y'all” to
rhyme with “soul” and “rock and roll”.
• The references to the song lyrics give it an air
of authenticity - though this is quite lightly
done.
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• The poem is a light-hearted exploration of
ideas of fame, friendship and family. It begs
the question whether it is better to have
been Elvis (or even Madonna) or his sister is fame better than modest contentment,
great wealth better than friends?
Elvis’s Twin Sister
•
1.
2.
•
Look at the poem. Find evidence that the Sister Presley finds life in
the convent:
Peaceful & relaxing
Friendly.
Highlight the items of clothing and possessions within stanzas 3 &
4.
Which items do you think are usual or unusual to wear?
Seeing as Nuns are expected to wear plain and simple garments what
does this tell us about her:
1.
Attitude towards appearance
2.
Her relationship with the novices, (young trainee nuns.)?
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• What is Sister Presley’s attitude towards religion in the
poem?
True
She is deeply
religious.
She is more
interested in Elvis
than God
She prefers
gardening to
religion
She cares more
about her clothes
than religion
Partly
true
False
Reasons why
Elvis’s Twin Sister
What are
her faults?
Sister
Presley
What are her
good points?
Are we supposed to like or dislike Sister Presley?
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• What facts do you learn about Elvis?
Elvis Facts!
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• Highlight the use of slang or dialect words in the
poem.
• ‘digs’ in the 50’s and 60’s meant to like. Why
has Duffy chosen to use this term?
• How could the term ‘brother’ be interpreted?
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• Rhyme can be used to create certain effects
in poetry for example for emphasis, humour
to create a link within the reader’s mind.
• Find 3 examples of rhyme within the poem
and explain what effects are achieved by
each.
Elvis’s Twin Sister
•
Find examples of how religion and rock ‘n’ roll
are linked together.
• Does Duffy intend the reader to be :
A) Offended by Sister Presley treating rock ‘n’ roll
as something religious.
B) Amused that she appears to be devoted to rock
‘n’ roll than she is to God?
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• Read the following statements and decide which
statement is most likely to least likely and state
why you think so.
Most likely
Least Likely
Elvis’s Twin Sister
a)
To amuse the reader by creating a rock ‘n’ roll nun.
b)
To satirise people’s tendency to worship musical
heroes.
c)
To offer a tongue-in-cheek suggestion about what
might have happened to Elvis Presley.
d)
To ridicule gender stereotypes by mixing up a male
superstar and a female nun.
e)
To show she’s a big Elvis fan.
Elvis’s Twin Sister
• Do you agree with Madonna's claim? Or is Elvis in a different class
from her?
• Is Elvis's sister (as imagined in the poem) a more attractive person
than she would be if she were a big star like him?
• What do you think of the language of the poem? How well does
Carol Ann Duffy (a Scot living in England) create a sense of a
speaker from the southern USA? (Elvis was born in Mississippi and
grew up in Tennessee.)
• How does Carol Ann Duffy make use of Elvis's song titles and lyrics
in the poem?
• Is the poem comic or serious? Do you like it or not?