Carol Ann Duffy

[Janet]

I'm glad she's been made Laureate, although I'm surprised she accepted the post.

 

From the BBC

 

I'm pretty certain there are other fans on here - what are your favourite poems by her? I'm only familiar with her collection The World's Wife plus a few other random ones but keep meaning to buy some more of her work.

[Rawr]

I am only familiar with the World's Wife too, but i still think she's brilliant. I really like the messages and subversions throughout that collection. 'Little Red Cap' and 'The Kray Sisters' are my faves from that. My sis was actually taught by her a little at university, she said it was certainly interesting, being an aspiring poet herself.

[chrysalis_stage]

I remember reading Carol Ann Duffy for GCSE and have the anthology we used at home, but cannot remember the names of the poems we learnt. I do remember liking them though.

[Stephanie2008]

I also studied Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage for GCSE and loved both of their style's of poetry. I really enjoyed studying her poetry and found it easy to understand and interpret. Well done to her!

[Nightwish]

I remember studying the whole of The World's Wife during year 12 (my first year of A-Levels). I was dreading it as I was never keen on poetry, but I loved it! She is so funny and I loved my teacher explaining all the poems such as the background mythology - yes, Duffy is the reason I love mythology now

 

Actually I think throughout the whole of the two years I prefered the poetry work to the plays and novels. Duffy, Blake and the World War 1 literature really opened my eyes to how amazing poetry is

[Rawr]

She is so funny and I loved my teacher explaining all the poems such as the background mythology - yes, Duffy is the reason I love mythology now

 

I loved these things too

[Christie]

I would just like to say I've studied Carol Ann Duffy's poerty in school and then our teachers took us to a study session with her in our local theatre. I must say she is a very odd character and how can I say? Uh, butch...

She didn't particulary like the questions we asked her as they were all about her old poems (which are the best ones) and talked alot about her brand new book that she sold in the foyer after the meeting. But I do like her poems especially Valentine!

[Rawr]

I have heard from a few people who have met and talked with her (my sis has even been out to dinner with her with a few others LOL as she was in her masters class for sometime i think) that she is quite a strange character and difficult to talk to. A brilliant poet though.

[Suzanne123]

I did her poetry for AS at school and I remember thinking she was great

I was quite surprised she accepted the post as Poet Laurette but im pleased she did

[Polly]

I did them both too for GCSE. My favourite one was 'Havisham'. I didn't really like Great expecatations but after writing 3 pages on the poem last week (I'm doing my GCSE period now) I kinda like it.

[nippysweetie_1]

I love Carol Ann Duffy's poems, particularly "Originally" I think she has a brilliant turn of phrase and uses language like a master craftsperson which lends to her poetry a sense of place and culture. I can recommend an anthology of poems in which hers appear: Dream State - The New Scottish Poets Edited by Daniel O'Rourke

 

The Blurb:

 

The anthology represents a vibrant range of poems - from clear headed political satire to erotic verse - all exhibiting a striking mixture of lexical brio, sophistication and directness. No clear manifesto emerges here but all articulate a country in the process of confident rediscovery.

[nowhere_girl]

I have heard from a few people who have met and talked with her (my sis has even been out to dinner with her with a few others LOL as she was in her masters class for sometime i think) that she is quite a strange character and difficult to talk to. A brilliant poet though.

 

I think most writers are. I write & I think I do so because I'm quite socially awkward. Written words are such a lot easier than spoken ones in my opinion.

 

I loved studying poetry too & I too both studied Carol Ann Duffy & went to a poetry reading day locally through school. I was, no surprise, the only person into it.

 

I remember loving 'War Photographer' the most, although I was also fond of 'Before You Were Mine'.

[BookJumper]

I'm not a huge fan of her poetry to be quite honest, however she has edited a collection called Answering Back: Living Poets Reply to the Poetry of the Past which looks interesting so I'll have to check that one out and tell you all what I think...

[Babe*With*Brains]

i have to admit, i'm not a huge fan. I was in Waterstone's book shop recently and thought i'd have a flip through some of her works and i just found that i couldn't get into it.

[megustaleer]

Like other here, The World's Wife is how I got to know Carol Ann Duffy's poems - and that mainly through hearing/reading Midas, which seems to be the most well known.

I rather prefer the ones that do not identify the subject in the title, where you get that shock of recognition when you pick up the clues in the poem. Little Red-Cap, and The Devil's Wifeboth have that little extra frisson for me.

I have yet to recognise the subject of Mrs Beast, 'though. Maybe another look at Duffy's personal history might help?

[poppy]

I haven't read a lot of her poems, but what I have, I've liked a lot.

 

Particularly love this one which says more to me about love than a lot of the sentimental ones.

Valentine

 

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

 

I give you an onion.

It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.

It promises light

like the careful undressing of love.

 

Here.

It will blind you with tears

like a lover.

It will make your reflection

a wobbling photo of grief.

 

I am trying to be truthful.

 

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

 

I give you an onion.

Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,

possessive and faithful

as we are,

for as long as we are.

 

Take it.

Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,

if you like.

 

Lethal.

Its scent will cling to your fingers,

cling to your knife.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chrissy]

For me, it has alway been her poem 'Words, Wide NIght'.

 

Somewhere on the other side of this wide night and the distance between us, I am thinking of you.

The room is turning slowly away from the moon.

This is pleasurable. Or shall I cross that out and say it is sad?

In one of the tenses I am singing an impossible song of desire that you cannot hear.

La la la la. See? I close my eyes and imagine the dark hills I would have to cross to reach you,

For I am in love with you and this is what it is like or what it is like in words.

 

[poppy]

Oh yes Chrissy. That one is lovelier

 

 

 

[megustaleer]

I saw this thread and came to add my twopennorth, only to find that I had done that already - 10 years ago. Disappointed to find only 3 more posts afterwards, also 10 years old.

 

 The World's Wife  and The Bees are the only Duffy collections I own  - plus Out Of Fashion, which is an anthology edited by her which contains just two of her own works, They are Warming Her Pearls, a long-time favourite, and Elegy, which is a very moving poem to a deceased love.

 

Links to both poems below - sadly the link button does not work, so I am unable to link from the poem titles in the text

 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56715/warming-her-pearls

 

https://clodandpebble.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/elegy-by-carol-ann-duffy/