NCTE Verse - Carol Ann Duffy

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Poet of the Day: Carol Ann Duffy

1/5 Carol Ann Duffy, born in 1955, became the first female poet laureate of Britain in 2009. She often explores the perspectives of the voiceless women of history, mythology, and fairy tales as well as those on the fringes of society in her dramatic monologues. Duffy is most well-known for her collections Standing Female Nude (1985) and The World’s Wife (1999). She has also written plays and poetry for children.

CC image “Carol Ann Duffy 8 Nov 2013 5” courtesy of Steel Wool on Flickr under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.

This poet belongs in our classrooms because…

she explores the voices of those who have traditionally been silenced. Her poetry uses humor and emotion with simple language that hits us in the gut with its truth. It’s poetry that students can understand quickly but can also explore at length, uncovering its layers and relating to the speakers and their experiences.

A Poem by Carol Ann Duffy

Warming Her Pearls for Judith Radstone

Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress bids me wear them, warm them, until evening when I'll brush her hair. At six, I place them round her cool, white throat. All day I think of her, 2/5 resting in the Yellow Room, contemplating silk or taffeta, which gown tonight? She fans herself whilst I work willingly, my slow heat entering each pearl. Slack on my neck, her rope.

She's beautiful. I dream about her in my attic bed; picture her dancing with tall men, puzzled by my faint, persistent scent beneath her French perfume, her milky stones.

I dust her shoulders with a rabbit's foot, watch the soft blush seep through her skin like an indolent sigh. In her looking-glass my red lips part as though I want to speak.

Full moon. Her carriage brings her home. I see her every movement in my head.... Undressing, taking off her jewels, her slim hand reaching for the case, slipping naked into bed, the way

she always does.... And I lie here awake, knowing the pearls are cooling even now in the room where my mistress sleeps. All night

I feel their absence and I burn.

Carol Ann Duffy, "Warming Her Pearls" from Selling Manhattan. Copyright © 1987 by Carol Ann Duffy. Reprinted by permission of Anvil Press Poetry, Ltd.

Source: Selling Manhattan (Anvil Press Poetry Ltd., 1987)

3/5 Other Poems or Books by Carol Ann Duffy

set of poems from various Duffy books:

"Before You Were Mine," "Cold," "We Remember Your Childhood Well," "Last Post" (especially good if you teach "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen,) "War Photographer," "Shooting Stars," "History," "Stealing," "Education for Leisure," "In Mrs. Tilscher’s Class," "Valentine," "Mrs. Sisyphus," "Mrs. Lazarus," "Medusa," "Salome," "Havisham," "Anne Hathaway."

Books:

Mean Time. London: Anvil Poetry Press, 1993.

Selling Manhattan. London: Anvil Poetry Press, 1987

Standing Female Nude. London: Anvil Poetry Press, 1985.

The Other Country. London: Anvil Poetry Press, 2004

The World's Wife. London: Picador, 1999.

Classroom Connections

Here is a link to as tudent-led discussion activity.

4/5 ​Lauren H. Jackson has taught English and humanities for 18 years at public schools in Seattle and international schools in Hong Kong, Saigon, and Seoul. Sharing Carol Ann Duffy's poetry with students in her IB Higher Level English Language and Literature class at Seoul Foreign school was pure joy.

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