Rapture

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Angelica Michelis and Anthony Rowland (eds), The Poetry of Carol Ann Duffy: ‘choosing tough words’ (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003) Rapture is studied as part of the OCR (EMC) A-Level qualification in English Language and Literature, across schools and colleges in England. According to The Guardian, schools were urged to destroy copies of the unedited anthology, [37] though this was later denied by AQA. [38] Duffy called the decision ridiculous. "It's an anti-violence poem," she said. "It is a plea for education rather than violence." She responded with "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", a poem about violence in other fiction, and the point of it. "Explain how poetry/pursues the human like the smitten moon/above the weeping, laughing earth ..." [39] The Mrs. Schofield of the title refers to Pat Schofield, an external examiner at Lutterworth College, Leicestershire, who complained about "Education for Leisure," calling it "absolutely horrendous." [38] Career Granada TV, Guardian poetry critic 1988-89, poetry lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Plays include Take My Husband (1982) and Cavern of Dreams (1984) Honorary Graduates 2009" (PDF). 1.hw.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2009 . Retrieved 17 July 2016.

As we celebrate Carol Ann Duffy’s decade as Poet Laureate, Dr Mari Hughes-Edwards offers a response to the themes of love and loss in her work What Will You Do Now with the Gift of Your Life? by Stephen Raw. The three strong books that made her name in the Nineties blazed with voicings; with dramatic characters, a bomber, a psychopath, an American buying Manhattan. This voicing power emerged again in The World’s Wife, along with the same sharp humour, social criticism and satire. But those collections ended in love poems and you felt that this, in the end, was what really drove Duffy’s work. In Rapture, it comes to its full flowering: ruthless, sensuous, tender; utterly modern, utterly classical. ( Independent, 16 September 2005) Here is where the poem almost turns on its head. It is interesting that Duffy chose to make this transformation midway through a couplet. I wonder if this is deliberate and contains a sort of symbolism. Perhaps her way of saying that love can act at any time. Once again nature is used but here it seems to have far more positive connotations. Clearly, there is a massive transformation and the tone of the poem has changed dramatically. It is at this point in the poem we start to understand why it is called the rapture. Speaking of which note once again the reference to heaven.Duffy’s themes include language and the representation of reality; the construction of the self; gender issues; contemporary culture; and many different forms of alienation, oppression and social inequality. She writes in everyday, conversational language, making her poems appear deceptively simple. With this demotic style she creates contemporary versions of traditional poetic forms - she makes frequent use of the dramatic monologue in her exploration of different voices and different identities, and she also uses the sonnet form. Duffy is both serious and humorous, often writing in a mischievous, playful style - in particular, she plays with words as she explores the way in which meaning and reality are constructed through language. In this, her work has been linked to postmodernism and poststructuralism, but this is a thematic influence rather than a stylistic one: consequently, there is an interesting contrast between the postmodern content and the conservative forms. And on Duffy’s other shoulder, H.D. is perched. In these poems, you’ll find finely wrought imagism. But prepare yourself for the sad volta. From all-love to not-love. The animate and inanimate elements of the planet mirror and respond to the poet’s inner world and experience, feeling strikingly rational. From “Wintering”: Demara, Bruce (7 July 2016). "The Bizzaro History of the Poet L aureate". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Duffy has been quoted as saying that she is ‘not interested, as a poet, in words like “plash” – Seamus Heaney words, interesting words. I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way’; and in the same Guardian profile, ‘Childhood is like a long greenhouse where everything is growing, it’s lush and steamy. It’s where poems come from’ (31 August, 2002). She applied to the University of Liverpool to be near him, and began a philosophy degree there in 1974. She had two plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse, wrote a pamphlet, Fifth Last Song, and received an honours degree in philosophy in 1977. [3] She won the National Poetry Competition in 1983. She worked as poetry critic for The Guardian from 1988 to 1989, and was editor of the poetry magazine, Ambit. In 1996, she was appointed as a lecturer in poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and later became creative director of its Writing School. [6]

Higgins, Charlotte (7 December 2009). "Artist Richard Wright strikes gold as winner of this year's Turner prize". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Sean O’Brien, ‘Carol Ann Duffy: a stranger here myself’ in The Deregulated Muse (Newcastle: Bloodaxe, 1998) Of her own writing, Duffy has said: "I'm not interested, as a poet, in words like 'plash'— Seamus Heaney words, interesting words. I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way." [3] She told The Observer: "Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning." [30] Carol Ann Duffy, one of the most significant names in contemporary British poetry, has achieved that rare feat of both critical and commercial success. Her work is read and enjoyed equally by critics, academics and lay readers, and it features regularly on both university syllabuses and school syllabuses. Some critics have accused Duffy of being too populist, but on the whole her work is highly acclaimed for being both literary and accessible, and she is regarded as one of Britain’s most well-loved and successful contemporary poets. Duffy is also a playwright, and has had plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London. Her plays include Take My Husband (1982), Cavern of Dreams (1984), Little Women, Big Boys (1986) Loss (1986), Casanova (2007). Her radio credits include an adaptation of Rapture. [42] Her children's collections include Meeting Midnight (1999) and The Oldest Girl in the World (2000). She also collaborated with the Manchester composer, Sasha Johnson Manning, on The Manchester Carols, a series of Christmas songs that premiered in Manchester Cathedral in 2007.

Carol Ann Duffy - Poetry - Scottish Poetry Library". www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk . Retrieved 16 February 2018. This collection starts off strong. Duffy is particularly impressive when portraying the breathless infatuation ('Text', 'Name', 'Haworth') and ferocity ('Rain') of desire that characterise the so-called "honeymoon phase" of a romantic relationship. There is a playful irony to many of these poems, allowing Duffy to temper their intensity by gently poking fun at the speaker's maniacal obsession with the beloved. Born in 1955 in Glasgow, Duffy was brought up in Staffordshire. As a student in Liverpool she wrote poems and plays, became involved with "the scene" and Adrian Henry. With the collection Standing Female Nude (1985) she established her name. Three other important collections followed: Selling Manhattan (1987), The Other Country (1990) and Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread poetry award and the Forward prize. For someone who has made a comparatively quiet career, away from the public eye and the literary celebrity round, she has a loyal following and a high profile. When the appointment of a new poet laureate was last in the news, it was she who commanded the popular vote. She was made a CBE in 2001. Many people have written about this roller coaster of love, and Rapture is Carol Ann Duffy’s collection of poems about real love. These poems feel raw and are deeply laced with emotion. The poem Venus is about not being able to hold her lover in any intimate way any more but is suffering from insomnia and can watch the transit of Venus. There are poems about waking in the middle of the night and not having them there and the sorrow of not being able to use the words I love you in her vocabulary anymore. She also writes picture books for children, and these include Underwater Farmyard (2002); Doris the Giant (2004); Moon Zoo (2005); The Tear Thief (2007); and The Princess's Blankets (2009).

In 2015, Duffy was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. [16] Poet laureate [ edit ] I have never felt that her sexuality is an issue in her work," said Peter Jay, Duffy's former publisher. "She has largely managed to transcend the issue by virtue of writing good poems as opposed to gender studies." This is quite dramatic. Once again this helps cement the idea of the rapture in our heads. However, I think any hint of religious undertones is almost irrelevant. I think this is supposed to point to the idea of a situation that has become really mundane. Queuing evokes the idea of waiting. It sounds like the narrator and their significant other are in a real bind if that is how dull things have got! This is another enjambment line. She also participated in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six Books, for which she wrote a piece based on a book of the King James Bible. [43]

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In Duffy's case, however, this consensus is hardly new. Not since Philip Larkin has a living British poet straddled the commercial and critical arenas with such finesse. This has prompted several critics to seek common ground between the two authors, some thematic preoccupations to link the dyspeptic Hull librarian with his more expansive, approachable descendant. For her part, Duffy jokes that there is only one similarity. "We are both lesbian poets," she says. Duffy uses a beautiful description here referring to the clouds as a prayer of rain. This is a nice nod to the poem’s religious title and actually in itself is quite a clever collective noun for clouds. The end of the line is enjambment and this helps the pace of the poem, although it is an enjambment line it does not dismiss the rhyming pattern. a b "Prof Carol Ann Duffy". Manchester Metropolitan University. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013 . Retrieved 2 November 2009.

The change in perception is echoed here. The air is given sentience! And this is all possible because of the feeling of love. Perhaps the insinuation here is that love is like oxygen! (Maybe Duffy is a fan of the band Sweet!) This follows the course (or perhaps disintegration would be a better term) of a love affair - and is clearly massively, massively personal. There was speculation that she might become Poet Laureate upon the death of Ted Hughes in 1999, but the post went to Andrew Motion. She declared that the position was worthwhile as it was ‘good to have someone who is prepared to say that poetry is part of our national life’, and in an interview in The Independent predicted that poetry would ‘become more important and take a larger part in our lives in the next century’. Finally appointed Poet Laureate in 2009, she was the first female and the first Scottish Poet Laureate in the role’s 400 year history.

Carol Ann Duffy's poetry collections in order

Reynolds, Margaret (7 January 2006). "Review: Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy". The Guardian . Retrieved 27 April 2018. Anderson, Hephziba (4 December 2005). "Christmas Carol" . Retrieved 30 January 2019– via www.theguardian.com.