What Techniques Has Carol Ann Duffy Used in Her Poetry to Make Old Stories and Fables Relevant to Modern Audiences?
What techniques has Carol Ann Duffy used in her poetry to make old stories and fables relevant to modern audiences?
Comment on upon the use of language, imagery and structure.
'Mrs. Faust' is written in the casual, contemporary style which suits its setting and adds fittingly to the collection of 'The Worlds Wife'. In this collection most poems explore the feminist principles or the modern state of them. This poem however, introduces a new issue to the collection; the materialistic nature of middle class couples. Duffy transforms the 'Faust Myth', a protagonist of a classic German legend, into her own and uses a range of techniques in order to portray the dilemmas in modern society. By portraying these issues, Duffy is able to mimic the problems that afflict society.
Duffy entices the reader with colloquial styled language and conversational openings. The pace of the opening and the poem in general reflects the pace of the couple’s relationship. By the opening of the poem being short and snappy the words, 'Shacked up, split up, made up, hitched up' completely lack any heart or passion which should be associated within a marriage or relationship. This suggests that their marriage was a mere convenience, removed of any emotion comparable to a business partnership reflecting their materialistic marriage; which also shows the superficiality of our society. 'We worked. We saved. We moved again', this quote demonstrates their business like marriage. The chant of the pronoun 'We' emphasises that they were together in the materialistic sense due to the fact that the three events are neither loving or happen to develop their relationship. They seem to want to prosper yet developing the insatiable greed that partner’s ruthless ambition which continues to destruct the remains of their relationship.
At the end of the second stanza there is a sense of foreboding in the up coming events involving their relationship, the quote 'Faust's face was clever, greedy, and slightly
Comment on upon the use of language, imagery and structure.
'Mrs. Faust' is written in the casual, contemporary style which suits its setting and adds fittingly to the collection of 'The Worlds Wife'. In this collection most poems explore the feminist principles or the modern state of them. This poem however, introduces a new issue to the collection; the materialistic nature of middle class couples. Duffy transforms the 'Faust Myth', a protagonist of a classic German legend, into her own and uses a range of techniques in order to portray the dilemmas in modern society. By portraying these issues, Duffy is able to mimic the problems that afflict society.
Duffy entices the reader with colloquial styled language and conversational openings. The pace of the opening and the poem in general reflects the pace of the couple’s relationship. By the opening of the poem being short and snappy the words, 'Shacked up, split up, made up, hitched up' completely lack any heart or passion which should be associated within a marriage or relationship. This suggests that their marriage was a mere convenience, removed of any emotion comparable to a business partnership reflecting their materialistic marriage; which also shows the superficiality of our society. 'We worked. We saved. We moved again', this quote demonstrates their business like marriage. The chant of the pronoun 'We' emphasises that they were together in the materialistic sense due to the fact that the three events are neither loving or happen to develop their relationship. They seem to want to prosper yet developing the insatiable greed that partner’s ruthless ambition which continues to destruct the remains of their relationship.
At the end of the second stanza there is a sense of foreboding in the up coming events involving their relationship, the quote 'Faust's face was clever, greedy, and slightly