Writing an essay for a Carol Ann Duffy Poem
Question: Analyse how the strong personal voice of a narrator or writer helped you to understand a
theme in the written text(s).
a)
‘voice’ is the person behind the words that speak out to the audience. Voice is imagery, tone, patterns of
sound, rhythm, and diction. Voice is the powerful words on a page that form a relationship with you and
the writer. Voice is the poet’s personality and tone flowing in print. Voice is the writer's lively, powerful
words on the page, speaking to the reader to form a relationship.
theme is the main idea in the text. In this case the poem or poems.
b)
c) analyse: Examine, evaluate, consider, explore.
d) helped you to understand’ is asking you to show how the strong personal voice influenced or shaped your
opinions on the theme.
Structure
Introduction
Name the poem/s and poet
Use keywords to frame the first
paragraph (don’t need to mention
ALL the techniques but at least
mention the first one you’ll
discuss).
State an opinion about the
message in the poem/s.
1st paragraph
Topic Sentence
Explanation
Evidence
Relevant comment to link to
question
*see appendix for alternate
paragraph template options
Useful Starters
In the poem/s ______________, Carol Ann
Duffy employs a strong narrative voice to
help the reader to understand the theme
of...
This narrative voice is intensified through
the use of….
Duffys ideas on ….. can be seen as…
Useful vocabulary
Poem
Poet
Issue/idea
Narrative voice
Narrator
Convincing
Tone
In…one striking example of strong
personal/narrative voice was…(identify,
quote and explain)
The understanding gained was ….
This was effective in helping the reader
understand the theme of …. Because…
Significant
Important
Effect
Purpose
Imagery
2nd paragraph
As above
Another example of strong
personal/narrative voice was…(identify,
quote and explain)
My understanding was further helped when I
realised that/came to see that…
This … was equally/even more effective in
helping me to understand the theme of …
because…
Affected
Creates
Emphasises
Highlights
In contrast to…
However
Similarly
Particularly
3rd paragraph
As above
To add to my understanding of the theme
the use of …(technique, quote and
explanation)
This was effective also in that…
My understanding of the theme of … was
enhanced/shaped by …
Because of the effectiveness of the methods
used by the poet, it was
easier/challenging/interesting to reach an
idea about…
It is clear that the poet…
The poem was perceptive in that…
My comprehension of the theme of… is
now…
The poem excited me/grabbed my
attention/was challenging because…
On the whole, therefore, overall, in
consideration, consequently, as a result,
thus, accordingly…
As above
Conclusion
Sum up your key points
Check that you have actually
answered the question and have
used the idea of ‘because’ in your
answers
Initial, thoughtful,
perceptive,
appreciative,
comprehension,
awareness, grasp,
conception,
demanding, testing,
difficult, stimulating,
thought-provoking,
fascinating,
remarkable…
Writing an essay for a Carol Ann Duffy Poem
Question: Analyse how the language used intensified the message of the written text(s).
a) language use is the way that the poet has chosen the language in the poem – not just
words but the way they are put together: word choices/stanzas/techniques such as
enjambment and connotation.
b) Intensified means ‘make stronger’ or more obvious, strengthened or deepened your
understanding.
c) message is the main idea in the text. In this case the poem or poems.
d) analyse: Examine, evaluate, consider, explore.
Structure
Introduction
Name the poem/s and poet
Use keywords to frame the first
paragraph (don’t need to mention
ALL the techniques but at least
mention the first one you’ll
discuss).
State an opinion about the
message in the poem/s.
1st paragraph
Topic Sentence
Explanation
Evidence
Relevant comment to link to
question
*see appendix for alternate
paragraph template options
Useful Starters
In the poem/s ______________, Carol Ann
Duffy employs language to intensify the
message ...
This use of language helps to magnify the
message of …
Duffys ideas on ….. can be seen as…
Useful vocabulary
Poem
Poet
Issue/idea
Language choice
Narrative voice
Narrator
Convincing
Tone
In…one striking example of strong language
use to intensify the theme/message
is…(identify, quote and explain)
The understanding gained was ….
This was effective in helping the reader
understand the theme of …. Because…
Significant
Important
Effect
Purpose
Imagery
2nd paragraph
As above
Another example of strong
personal/narrative voice was…(identify,
quote and explain)
My understanding was further helped when I
realised that/came to see that…
This … was equally/even more effective in
helping me to understand the theme of …
because…
Affected
Creates
Emphasises
Highlights
In contrast to…
However
Similarly
Particularly
3rd paragraph
As above
To add to my understanding of the theme
the use of …(technique, quote and
explanation)
This was effective in intensifying the
message also in that…
My understanding of the theme of … was
enhanced/shaped by the intensity of the
language …
Because of the effectiveness of the methods
used by the poet, it was
easier/challenging/interesting to reach an
idea about…
It is clear that the poet…
The poem was perceptive in that…
My comprehension of the theme of… is
now…
The poem excited me/grabbed my
attention/was challenging because…
On the whole, therefore, overall, in
consideration, consequently, as a result,
thus, accordingly…
As above
Conclusion
Sum up your key points
Check that you have actually
answered the question and have
used the idea of ‘because’ in your
answers
Initial, thoughtful,
perceptive,
appreciative,
comprehension,
awareness, grasp,
conception,
demanding, testing,
difficult, stimulating,
thought-provoking,
fascinating,
remarkable…
Revision Notes for ‘Havisham’ by Carol Ann Duffy
Subject and Themes: What is this poem about?
 It is written in response to the character of Miss Havisham in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.
Havisham is a jilted character – left on the morning of her wedding, she never recovers from the pain
of the betrayal. Trapped by her anger and hate, this poem shows how love and hate are
intertwined emotions.
 She pines for a marriage that never happened and creates a world for herself in which time
stands still. Marriage is the one thing that Miss Havisham wants and the one thing that will never
happen for her. She hates her spinster state but seems to hate men more.
 This poem asks us to understand, and even identify with Miss Havisham, and that makes us question
our very own definitions of madness. Our sympathy for her situation overrides some of our
disgust at the state she has let herself get into.
 Has she brought all of her troubles upon herself or is she the victim of her cunning and malicious
ex-fiancé? Is she a victim of her society, which has restricted the roles of women? Or is she just
plain bonkers?
Quotes that support the main ideas in the poem
Love and Hate are Intertwined
‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’, an oxymoron, and a set of contradictory terms. She clearly feels
both love and hate for him, showing how intertwined the emotions are in her very first words.
‘Some nights better, the lost body over me,/my fluent tongue in its ear/then down till I
suddenly bite awake’ shows how, despite his terrible betrayal, she still has erotic dreams about him
until she wakes up suddenly.
‘…Love’s/hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting/in my face. Bang. I stabbed at a
wedding cake’ again shows the connection between love and hate. Is it ‘Love is hate’ or ‘The hate
belonging to love’? The red of the balloon is associated with love, lust and blood. She stabs at the
cake – just one symbol of the betrayal. Love is what caused all her pain. Is it worth it?
‘Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks’ sees the speaker acknowledge that her whole
life has been broken by her ex-fiancé.
Being stuck in the past – trapped by the wedding that never was
‘…the dress/yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;/the slewed mirror, full-length,
her, myself, who did this/to me?’ shows how she is clinging to the past – to the wedding? Or to the
idea of marriage itself? She has not managed to separate herself from the thing that happened to her.
Madness?
‘Beloved sweetheart bastard’ pops up again – is she so mad that he can be both? Is she
purposefully using an oxymoron to portray conflicting ideas or is this another symptom of her madness
(she’s still wearing the dress and stabbing the cake remember!)
‘Spinster. I stink and remember’ would seem to show that she is well aware of her predicament.
‘Whole days/in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall’ could go one of two ways: letting herself sink into
the dramatic anguish of her situation OR she is incredibly depressed and mentally unstable.
Key language techniques used in the poem (see also above and your class notes)
Quote
"Beloved sweetheart
bastard"
Technique
Effect
alliteration
Prayed for it/so hard
I've dark
green/pebbles for
eyes,/ropes on the
back of my hands I
could strangle with.
Metaphor
Green/pebbles
Metaphor
The alliteration on the ‘b’ creates a harsh sound – showing
the violence of the poem. It also connects ‘beloved’ and
‘bastard’ as an oxymoron. This shows the persona's conflict –
love and hate. A short, dramatic, and very powerful opening,
it sets the tone of the poem
Green is the colour we associate with envy, jealousy and also
sickness. The betrayal has left her hardened and jealous.
Not only is her body withered and veiny and she compares
her veins to ropes, she is making links to the idea of
strangling her ex-fiance with them.
her, myself, who did
this/to me?
Pronouns and
enjambment
Ropes on the back
of my hands
The use of pronoun shows the fractured sense of self that the
speaker has. She seems to be taking responsibility for her
situation (myself, who did this) but combined with the use of
enjambment she adds (to me?) which shows that she feels
herself the victim.
Form, Layout and Structure
 The poem is a dramatic monologue and Duffy has used a very definite character to speak the words.
This is not confessional poetry – the ‘voice’ is not that of Duffy. Imagine the character of Miss
Havisham speaking/uttering/spluttering the lines.
 The poem is written in four stanzas and employs the technique of enjambment which gives the effect
of ‘natural’ speech (which some obvious insinuation to her mental state in terms of the stop/start and
fractured train of thought obvious.
Education for Leisure B Y C A R O L A N N D U F F Y
CONTENT Like STEALING, EDUCATION FOR LEISURE was written in the 1980s when
Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. It was politically a time of great conflict- the Falklands
War, the miner’s strike, the poll tax riots, the inner city riots, the anti-cruise missile protests
at Greenham Common- and there were many cuts and changes in the health, social services
and education budgets. Margaret Thatcher said, and believed, that “there is no such thing as
society” and vigorously encouraged the individual pursuit of wealth. Many of the more
vulnerable or underprivileged parts of society suffered educationally and economically at that
time. Thatcher’s Britain is the unseen background of EDUCATION FOR LEISURE.
EDUCATION FOR LEISURE is written in the voice of a teenaged boy who has left school
and is on unemployment benefit. Again, like STEALING, I do not specify in the poem that
the speaker is male. This is because I was concerned to allow a voice to emerge from the
poem, rather than a character. But I had a male voice in my head as I wrote the poem.
The poem was inspired by some visits I made as a poet to a run-down, underfunded
comprehensive school in London. Many of the students there would leave school to face
unemployment- often with few, if any, GCSEs. They would have a lot of leisure time ahead,
but little education. So the title of the poem, EDUCATION FOR LEISURE, is ironic. The speaker
in the poem is attention-seeking in a quite disturbed way and has started to become
destructive- ultimately, of course, self-destructive. He is bored and frustrated, but feels that
there is more in him- perhaps even talent- although no-one seems to recognise this and his
education has not managed to bring it out. (“I am a genius./ I could be anything...”) He might
also feel that other people- teachers, adults at the benefit office, a radio disc jockey, in
different ways “play God” with his life. So today he is going to take control- “today/ I am
going to play God”. Unfortunately, he does not know how to be creative- Shakespeare is “in
another language”, for example- or when he tries to be creative he is blocked or thwarted- (“I
dial the radio/ and tell the man he’s talking to a superstar./ He cuts me off...”). And so all his
energy- which could and should be creative- becomes destructive. He squashes a fly, then
pours away the goldfish, considers harming the budgie or the cat, and the poem ends with
him taking a knife from his family’s kitchen and going out to mug or stab someone in the
street. The “glamour” of violence is something he knows from video and television. It is one
way of being “famous”.
FORM EDUCATION FOR LEISURE does not use a formal rhyme scheme or strict metre. The
form of the poem has been largely dictated by the voice speaking in the poem. Like
STEALING again, I have used the simple form of 5 free verses, each with 4 lines, to contain
the language and rhythm of the poem. The verses are frames, or canvasses, which I use to
order the energy of the voice, to control it and select from it and so make it speak more
articulately than in “real life”. The lines in the poem are usually short- “I am a genius”; “The
cat avoids me”-sometimes only one word long- “Anything”; “Shakespeare”. There is a jabbing
quality present in some of the phrasing in the poem which anticipates the knife/mugging at
the end. But there is also a gentler phrasing of some of the images which suggests the
yearning for something better buried within the boy’s psyche- “a sort of grey with boredom
stirring in the streets”; “I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name”. These lines also
have a more regular, iambic rhythm, implying order and grace as opposed to chaos and
violence.
LANGUAGE The language in EDUCATION FOR LEISURE is direct and colloquial, sometimes
using slang- “I pour the goldfish down the bog”, “signing on”, “superstar”. However, there is
“another language” referred to in the poem- a more creative language found in Shakespeare
or the Bible. The line “I squash a fly against the window with my thumb” vaguely reminds the
boy of a forgotten Shakespeare play studied at school.(King Lear: “As flies to wanton boys are
we to the Gods./They kill us for their sport.”) The line “I see that it is good” refers to Genesis.
Like many people, the boy in the poem has acquired more language from Shakespeare and
the Bible than he is aware of. In the poem, language is a form of life, a positive thing- the
boy writes his name on the window in the steam of his own breath and dials the radio to talk
about himself to the DJ. Like STEALING, EDUCATION FOR LEISURE uses the words “boredom”
and “Shakespeare” and in a sense in both poems these words are opposites.