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Original poster

Carol Ann Duffy poem

39 replies

vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 08/01/2022 12:44

Re-reading "The world’s wife" with studying teen.

Mrs Tireslias is about the woman married to a gender fluid person, based on the Greek myth about the seer, Tiresias.

"On tv
Telling the women out there
How, as a woman himself,
He knew how we felt"

I've never noticed it before, I thought it was about how men think they understand women, but, actually, the poem is about a trans widow, right?

worldswiferchk.weebly.com/mrs-tiresias.html

OP posts:
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JaninaDuszejko · 10/01/2022 17:41

@Slothtoes

That’s a great poem, properly uncomfortable to read. Google tells me Duffy was the first female Uk poet laureate. How brilliant.
Not only is she is the first woman, she is also the first Scottish-born poet and the first known LGBT poet to hold the position. Love her poetry, I 'accidentally' bought myself the anthology of her Christmas poems that was in the bookshops this year.
Pieceofpurplesky · 10/01/2022 17:27

I love teaching her poems. The Snowman is such a great poem for teens

ArabellaScott · 10/01/2022 17:27

@vivariumvivariumsvivaria

Well, if cisymyfatarse is going to that trouble... shall we have a little CAD geek group on this thread, then?

I don't know anything about literature, but I have a Scottish Set Text Guide...

Yay!

I love 'warming her pearls'

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

RepentMotherfucker · 10/01/2022 17:07

@JayAlfredPrufrock

That’s kind.
More elegiac and haunting but yeah. Grin
NitroNine · 09/01/2022 23:25

More than one exam board has Antigone - which features Teiresias, using a wee boy as some kind of guide dog, to boot - as an A-Level Drama & Theatre Studies set text. That could be Even. More. Fun. for teachers…

JayAlfredPrufrock · 09/01/2022 23:18

That’s kind.

RepentMotherfucker · 09/01/2022 22:35

@JayAlfredPrufrock

Love her work.
And I love your Lovesong Wink
JayAlfredPrufrock · 09/01/2022 22:25

Love her work.

Original poster
vivariumvivariumsvivaria · 09/01/2022 22:13

Well, if cisymyfatarse is going to that trouble... shall we have a little CAD geek group on this thread, then?

I don't know anything about literature, but I have a Scottish Set Text Guide...

OP posts:
Taswama · 09/01/2022 21:28

@Cismyfatarse

I can arrange classroom conversation on the poem. Give me a couple of weeks and I will get back to you.
Not placemarking at all...
Cismyfatarse · 09/01/2022 20:59

Try "Small Female Skull" (about having a hangover).

I also love "Dear Norman".

Cismyfatarse · 09/01/2022 20:57

I can arrange classroom conversation on the poem. Give me a couple of weeks and I will get back to you.

TurquoiseBaubles · 09/01/2022 20:13

I became aware of Carol Ann Duffy when "The wound in time" was the unseen poem on the Irish Leaving Cert in 2019. The only poem of hers on the actual curriculum is "Valentine".

I had no idea of the breadth of her writing and am really looking forward to exploring more.

Rightsraptor · 09/01/2022 18:51

Thank you for posting this OP. I knew it rang a bell and found 'The World's Wife' on my bookshelves - unread. No longer. Great stuff in there.

RepentMotherfucker · 09/01/2022 18:44

The Anne Hathaway one - the second best bed - is lovely.

TurquoiseBaubles · 09/01/2022 18:17

Oh, I read the Icarus one before. I see I need to look into more of her work.

I'm disappointed I won't find out how a classroom conversation would go about "The World's Wife". I suspect it would be quite uncomfortable, but I would like to hear teenage views on it.

RepentMotherfucker · 09/01/2022 18:08

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

Mrs Icarus

I’m not the first or last
to stand on a hillock,
watching the man she married
prove to the world
he’s a total, utter, absolute, Grade A pillock.

You beat me to it! Grin
dementedma · 09/01/2022 09:56

Wow. LOVE that!

ArabellaScott · 09/01/2022 09:48

I hghly recommend 'The World's Wife', for anyone who hasn't read it.

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 09/01/2022 09:41

Mrs Icarus

I’m not the first or last
to stand on a hillock,
watching the man she married
prove to the world
he’s a total, utter, absolute, Grade A pillock.

EishetChayil · 09/01/2022 09:40

She is a staggeringly good poet.

ArabellaScott · 09/01/2022 09:39

Duffy is a fantastic poet, and only improving, imho.

hoochyhag · 09/01/2022 09:39

Woah. That is powerful.

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