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Loud
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc)

Form: (Is the poem in a particular form? Does it reference any forms of poetry? Why?)

-The poem refers to the ‘royal kiss’ and the royal family, demonstrating the sense of
patriotism and nationalism present in society
...

-Reference to topical issues and events in the media, including church shootings, wars and
terrorism
...

-The female voice has been silenced throughout time – language and power are linked
...


-The poem is in free verse, further emphasising the lack of structure to the persona’s
transformation
...

-Use of enjambment suggests that her voice will never die, and that it is constant
...


Language: (Important methods and devices, linguistic choices
...
Use of aural
and violent imagery (e
...
“crack”) highlights the transmogrification of the female voice,
could be she is finding the voice she never had
...

-Similes used in the poem trivialise the persona’s power; she will only ever be a poor
imitation, “like thunder”, “like an orchestra”
...
The
initial expression of her voice had to be done in her private and domestic sphere
...

-Butler’s “Gender Performativity” -> The persona, despite her growing power, is
succumbing to the gendered expectations of her
...


Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)
-No rhyme scheme, yet there is a use of internal rhyme
...
The lack of rhyme scheme
demonstrates the sense of disorganisation of the persona’s thoughts as she struggles with
her new found power
...

-The persona’s voice transmogrifies from a “shout’ to “screeching and bellowing”,
suggesting there is an inevitability that the female voice will turn hysterical or irrelevant
...
This is the case
for Gilead, as the Handmaids are subjugated as a result of the literal takings from the bible
...

-”She could call abroad without using a phone” highlights how the sororal power of the
female voice transcends all barriers and boundaries
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Tall
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc)

Critical Voices: (Which critical ideas can be used in analysis of the poem and why?)

-Allusions to fairy tales throughout the poem reinforced female stereotypes of being ‘pretty’
and ‘dainty’
...

-Biblical allusions to Adam & Eve
...
There is also allusions to the creation story,
through “Day one”, “Day two” etc…
-The societal expectation that women should be less powerful than men; a physical
expression of dominance over men through height is dangerous for men
...
This is done
to re-establish hegemonic power structures
...

-Foucault's “Panoptic Surveillance” -> The persona (due to her new found height and
power) find herself watching people, through windows and glass
...

-The Glass Ceiling -> The persona can only see “lovers” or “an old man” through windows /
glass”
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Language: (Important methods and devices, linguistic choices
...
She bit it”
...
She completely subverts any typically feminine ideals
...
The religious imagery could
be suggestive of how the persona’s height is a gift given to her by a higher power
...
She then becomes taller, yet she never becomes the tallest
...

-Duffy’s use of idioms – “head in the clouds” - typical within the anthology and suggests the
uneducated, non-Latin speaking nature of women’s voices
...


-Caesuras are used in the poem to slow the pace of the poem; this is a juxtaposition to the
rapid growth of the persona’s height and power
...

Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)
-The poem starts in medias res, demonstrating how this feminine struggle for power and
acceptance is not something new; it is an on going issue
...

-”Out” -> “On” -> “Further”, demonstrates how the persona is physically extending herself,
as she is growing, leaving her sphere and moving into the masculine sphere
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In Tall, the men wear stilts in order to reduce the power that the persona has
...
In THT, the
Handmaid’s are not allowed to read, hence why shop names are pictures
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-In a patriarchal society, as women gain power, they become more and more alienated
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The power of their body has led to them being hated by most of the other women in society
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The persona “went out with a silver shilling, willing to buy”,
alluded to the concept of an allowance
...
The poem engages
with the need to possess such goods so obsessively
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->Further allusion to Icarus, and the idea that the more ambitious we get, the larger the fall
will be
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-Before the asterisk, there is only one full stop
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This highlights how quick the pace of the poem is, as – just like the
persona – the poem has no break or stopping point until the end
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This slows down the pace,
suggesting that the persona has more control
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Language: (Important methods and devices, linguistic choices
...
The language of the poem mirrors the
deterioration of her mental state, from the yonic euphemism of “dark basement” to the
dysphemistic “cunt”
...
Her greed has caused her downfall
...
She is not grateful for what
she has; then she loses it
...
She cant help herself, as she transmogrifies
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Critical Voices: (Which critical ideas can be used in analysis of the poem and why?)

Compare: (Summarise the main links and comparisons to other poems and THT)

-Germain Greer claimed that whenever we treat women's bodies as aesthetic objects
without function we deform them
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--The Glass Ceiling -> The persona’s “skirts were glass doors”
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-The concept of Icarus, and overreaching mortals, can be seen in THT, through the use of
the feminist movements referenced in the book
...
They were
punished for their ambition towards female liberation and sexual freedom
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-There is a contrast between the materialism and consumerism in the poem, and the revert
back to traditional ways of religion (religious fundamentalism)
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Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)

Anon
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc)

Form: (Is the poem in a particular form? Does it reference any forms of poetry? Why?)

-The poem engages with the context of women writers: women writing under pseudonyms,
or the title ‘Anon’: access to education, societal stigma etc
...

-Patriarchal gendered roles of women and men– ‘nurse, nanny, anon’
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-The poem engages with the dominance of the literary canon: ‘pale, male and stale’
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Power begins with a
conversation
-The second stanza references the limerick form, anonymous in origin and often
associated with humour
...
What imagery is created?)
-The nurturing and caring stereotype associated with femininity ultimately renders her
anonymous, exemplified through the pun on ‘none’ and ‘anon’
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-Duffy’s use of idioms – ‘packed it all in’ - typical within the anthology and suggests the
uneducated, non-Latin speaking nature of women’s voices
...


Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)

-Structural repeated motif of ‘anon’ shifts throughout the stanzas: in the first and last
stanza, ‘anon’ falls on the last line and word, suggesting the cyclical nature of female
entrapment
...
As the female figure
develops, she eventually ‘knows best’
...
e
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Critical Voices: (Which critical ideas can be used in analysis of the poem and why?)
Compare: (Summarise the main links and comparisons to other poems and THT)
-Woolf’s ‘A Room of One’s Own’ – the female poet in the poem works at ‘her’ desk in
presumably her own room – women must navigate the economic and social barriers to
writing in order to be successful
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-Butler – gender performativity – women are bound by gendered expectations of role
‘nurse, nanny, nun’ and therefore there is less space for a woman to occupy the
traditionally male sphere of writing and literature
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-Silencing of the female voice – in Gilead, women are not permitted to read or write,
suggesting the knowledge of the symbolic power of language: ability to communicate with
others, artistic expression, development of individually and freedom
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White Writing
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc
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There are ‘no
vows written to wed’ them, as traditional Christian marriages are inherently exclusive of
gay and lesbian relationships
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There is criticism as to how LGBT hate crimes are not
issued with the same concern as other hate crimes such as those of race and religion
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->They are appearing visually similar with the quatrain form, yet they are subverting
themselves in a less obvious way
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What imagery is created?)
-The use of ‘white’ is symbolic of women’s invisibility, and the idea that a women’s legacy
will be insignificant whilst existing in a patriarchal society
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-There is a parallel between ‘white’ and ‘write’ and ‘right’
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-The poem begins with the pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’, acknowledging the idea that lesbian
couples cannot truly be together due to society
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Critical Voices: (Which critical ideas can be used in analysis of the poem and why?)
-The reference to the ‘window’ could link to the idea of the glass ceiling, and the fact that
lesbian women are doubly marginalised, as they are oppressed as both females, and as
being gay
...
This is the message that Duffy is trying to
convey through this poem; women’s (particularly lesbian women) have had their existences
wiped away
...
Could refer to society, and its so called
acceptance of LGBT
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-There is an irregular rhyme scheme, suggesting that their relationship is unstable due to
society's perception of them, and the different rights they have to those in a heterosexual
relationship
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->The irregular rhyme scheme is a representation of society's values, yet the quatrains
represent the solid base and structure of their relationship,
Compare: (Summarise the main links and comparisons to other poems and THT)
-In both the poem and THT, homosexuality is punished, particularly by religion / Christianity
as an institution
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The women in the poems, whilst are not as violently punished, have
their entire existence wiped from history, due to the fundamental beliefs of Christianity
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The Handmaid that wrote Offred the message passed on her sororal
message in a hidden format, kept a secret from the oppression of the regime
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The Long Queen
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc
...
It hints at their generative
differences: Elizabeth had no children (the ‘Virgin Queen’) and Victoria married Albert and
has children
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This process is seen as a
‘success’ once reached a position into Motherhood (duty/role)
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-The use of caesura throughout the poem – whether it be a semi colon, a colon, a question
mark, or an end stopping – it is representative of the hesitation to fulfil the responsibility of
a high female figure
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This could also be indicative of the female persona’s dedication to balance the impact of
female power against masculine power
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What imagery is created?)
-Idiom – The use of the idiom within the relative clause “who wasn’t the apple of the Long
Queen’s eye” – concept of seeds, always relating back to female generative function –
vivid colour imagery of red (poison/toxic)
-Asyndetic Listing – The asyndetic listing of the abstract nouns “confession, or gossip,
scandal or anecdote, secrets…” – all connote deviant acts/sins, suggesting that females
are not appropriate/ suit the role of authority
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Critical Voices: (Which critical ideas can be used in analysis of the poem and why?)
-Simone De Beauvoir - Claims that a girl is taught to be a woman, and she has no maternal
instinct
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Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)
-Sestets - The regularity of the sestets throughout the poem is representative of the cycle
of femininity – menstruation (naivety), childbirth (awakening), motherhood (complacency),
menopause (self-actualisation)
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Repeated
motif of “The Long Queen” (“the Queen” and “Long Queen”) – the noun phrase “The Long
Queen” loses the definite article ‘the’ within the last stanza, suggesting the cyclical nature
of female entrapment and creating a paradox between the Queen and a ‘damsel in
distress’
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& TLQ lists “matrons,
wet nurses, witches, widows, wives, mothers…” – all hold a sense of nurture and a dutiful
role, participating within the generative function of females

History
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc)

Form: (Is the poem in a particular form? Does it reference any forms of poetry? Why?)

-Reference to the concentration camps / children leaving for the countryside during the war
(“the children waved their little hands from the trains”)
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-Biblical allusions; crucifixion of Jesus Christ - capitalisation of "History" and "Cross“
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-The repeated use of caesura - by the use of hyphens, commas, and end stoppings,
imitates the act of stopping and reminiscing over past events in history
...
”, symbolising that women are
an embodiment of neglect and exclusion within society
...
This implies that, alongside
the spondee “half dead” connoting a partial deterioration, the body may be deteriorating but
the mind is ‘alive’, supporting the masculine perspective of ‘His-story’ as a further exclusion
of women
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What imagery is created?)
-The semantic field of physical/mental decay from ageing – within the dynamic verbs,
“limped”, “wheezed”, “coughed”, “gasping”– implication that women who suffer the most
have to endure the grief that is followed
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-The repeated motif of waking up mimics the cyclicality of history, as she wakes up two
times
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Critical Voices: (Which critical ideas can be used in analysis of the poem and why?)
-Butler – gender performativity – women are bound by gendered expectations of role
(being the embodiment of acknowledgment; having to obey and remember) and therefore
there is less space for a woman to occupy the traditionally male sphere of writing and
literature
...

Rather than being ‘dead’, the effect of this pararhyme is heightened by the metaphor
‘bones in a bed’, creating a sense of grotesque, agonising discomfort – implies that women
are seen as senile, fragile figures
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-The asyndetic listing of “Jerusalem, Constantinople, Sicily” gives a prayer-like/sense of
focus upon directed religions – direct attack on religion as a concept
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THT; expresses this punishment, in hyperbolic
tone, when Offred say she’d “confess to any crime, I’ll end up hanging from a hook on the
Wall”
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The Diet
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc)

Form: (Is the poem in a particular form? Does it reference any forms of poetry? Why?)

-Criticising the idea of anorexia and dieting being synonymous – Duffy plays with the
concept of ‘within every fat person there is a thin one waiting to get out’ – Anorexia being
an emotional disorder by an obsessive desire to not eat/lose weight
-Weaponised media messages – Women are attacked by body images, indoctrinated
desire/expectation for body image – “had guns for hips”

-Caesura – The inclusion of semi colons and end stops highlights the indecisiveness of
the persona’s mental ability, implicating the chemical imbalance within the mental disease
of anorexia and the behavioural acts/results of instability, both physically and mentally and
emotionally
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Language: (Important methods and devices, linguistic choices
...
guns for hips", shows a loss of physical human identity - the metaphor of
violence within "guns for hips", is suggestive of the horror in which reality holds throughout
the process of anorexia
-Simile - “The diet worked like a dream
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-The capitalisation of Anorexia personifies it, transforming Anorexia into a being
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Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)
-Cyclical structure - the girl figure ends up back in the same body despite all of her hard
work of ‘dieting’, suggestive of the harsh reality / difficulty of how impossible it is to reach
society's expectations, but it is the attempt to achieve them which has a lasting impact on
her health
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-Foucault – using the power within knowledge and language – the media is using this to
manipulate society’s view on beauty, yet the persona lacks this power within
voice/language

-Suppressed by male power and the societal expectations – In THT, Gileadean regime is
under the order/control and power of male supremacy
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-> Females are positioned into a state of indoctrination under the strict/harsh rules and
expectations of the regimes (Gilead & society’s expectations through the media
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Gilead directly opposes the materialistic and consumerist nature of the society in the poem,
reverting back to traditional and fundamental values
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What imagery is created?)
-Polysyndeton of the past tense verbs “loved and loved and loved again” – Idea that to be a
beautiful figure, it radicalises them to be sexually deviant; hence, they need to feel ‘loved’
in order to feel somewhat ‘beautiful’ – normalising excessive love
-Personification – Personifying History as a forceful, male-domineering figure from the
media – “History’s stinking breath in her face”
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Although the ‘beautiful’ figures have access to the male sphere
(through the concept of their physical beauty), they are inevitably a product of
objectification and misogyny once viewed upon within the male-dominated sphere
...

-Irregular rhyme scheme – The irregularity highlights the difference within the 4 female
figures’ experiences
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-Asyndeton Listing (HoT) – The asyndeton of female epithets reduces the semantic
meaning and substance (“a pearl, drop-dead gorgeous, beautiful, a peach” – reflecting the
power of beauty being in control of male desires
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-Sexuality as a tool to obtain power – “I moved my hips a little” – the idea of being selfconsciously aware of sexuality – (B) Cleopatra and Helen of Troy as figures who exploit
their sexuality – transgression
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-Pentameter – The alternation from the extended lines and use of pentameter to the use of tetrameter and trimeter creates a shortened sound length throughout
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-Caesura – The regular caesura use creates a dominant tone, symbolising the aggressiveness of the patriarchal male sphere and the male gaze
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This poem is acting like a form of feedback to God
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-Gender is subverted within the poem, in the sense that the female is taking on an almost
god-like role
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The lack of form could allude to the
formation of the bible being a variety of stories written by various people
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What imagery is created?)
-The use of ellipsis at the end of the poem gives the poem a sense of pointlessness, due to
the fact that the poem has no sense of end or finality
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->The last line is unfinished, meaning the persona has not had the change to finish her
message; her voice has been taken away from her
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-“text illegible” “text untranslatable” = women being voiceless or uneducated, especially
during the time of Christ, “untranslatable” links to the Bible, mistakes can happen when the
bible is translated, Duffy is also commenting on how the bible has been translated and how
the meaning can be distorted or mistranslated
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-Helen Cixous – the persona is unable to finish her message, possibly due to the fact that
she is a woman
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->Links to the idea of writing in breast milk, as the persona is a mother herself, writing the
poem to her ‘son’
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This makes the poem seem child-like, reducing any message that the women may have
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The control and censorship of certain lines makes the reader
question how genuine the bible is, as we feel as if certain things are being kept from us
...

Compare: (Summarise the main links and comparisons to other poems and THT)
-Both the poem and THT are texts written by women, expressing their views, opinions and
feedback
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In THT, the professors at
the university claimed that the tapes of Offred’s story “might be a forgery”, reducing Offred
and her experience
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The Light Gatherer
Context: (Duffy, allusions in the poem: gender, class, society, history etc)

Form: (Is the poem in a particular form? Does it reference any forms of poetry? Why?)

-Religious allusions to Christ and the crucifixion (“the crown of your bowed head”)
suggesting that the persona is the mother of Christ, Mary
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-There is imagery of baptisms, suggesting the persona, suggesting the child needs to be
cleansed and purified in order to remain innocent
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-There is no form to the poem, which could be reflective of how there is no easy structure
or guide to motherhood and raising a child
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Language: (Important methods and devices, linguistic choices
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To the mother, the child is as rare and valuable as Jesus
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-The poem is constantly referring to the child as something that is rare and precious
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-The semantic field of light imagery in the poem is subversive for the anthology, as the
poem represents a positive view of motherhood, rather than it being something that is
restricting (like in Sub)
...
However, this is not the case for the child, as we see the baby holding “the whole
moon” in their arms
...

->De Beauvoir also claimed that through pregnancy, a women loses herself
...
This could be subverted, as we are not shown any case of
a birth happening, suggesting that the baby was purely a gift that “fell from a star”
...


Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)
-Throughout the poem, the light that the child excludes starts to become dependent on the
reflection
...
This
could be suggestive of how a child will always need the love and support of their mother,
no matter how old they get
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This tunnel could represent a death of innocence for the child as it
matures, or a loss of purpose for the mother as she grieves her child’s dependence
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Their role is to produce offspring, removing any sense
of personality of emotion from the process of pregnancy
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-In both the poem and THT, children are attached with such a high value
...
For the Handmaids, children can be seen as a physical form of
trade, as their fertility and their bodies are the only forms of power they have in Gilead
...

-Whilst the poem has no form, mirroring the fact there is no strict path to raising a child,
Gilead has a strict structure that needs to be followed
...

->It could be said that the raising of a child would be treated with more care due to it being
rare
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As women have not been a part of such history, they have had to make history
themselves
...
The majority of
the work that was published in her lifetime was altered in order to fit the conventional poetic
rules of the time
...


-The use of a caesura in “I felt the first kick of my child; whacked a century into the crowd”
highlights the separation between motherhood and a successful career, suggesting a
woman cannot have both, and implying that motherhood is not considered an achievement
comparable to a career
...


Language: (Important methods and devices, linguistic choices
...

->It’s ironic, as the colon suggests the persona was about to start listing things
...

->The colon could be a kind of purposeful silence, as she is leaving space for true female
successes to eventually happen
...
The persona is slowly gaining power as the poem
progresses
...
This implies that the restrictions and disadvantages
of women have become normalised in society, just like these infamous phrases
...

-The imagery of periods (“precious egg”, “tampon”, “the blood”, “Cup – tampon” etc…)
throughout the poems seems to contrast with the poem’s content of sports
...

-The plosive alliteration towards the beginning of the poem (“breasts bandaged beneath”)
highlights how the persona is having to mask her femininity, taking on a masculine role in
order to assimilate into the masculine sphere
...
This links to the idea that motherhood is not as valuable of an achievement as
having a career
...


Structure: (How is the poem structured: stanzas, rhyme scheme etc? How are ideas
explored?)

Compare: (Summarise the main links and comparisons to other poems and THT)
-In this poem, having a period does not restrict of inhibit a women; the persona wins the
world cup for England, despite her period
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-Pregnancy and motherhood have completely opposing meanings in Sub and in THT
...
However, for Handmaids, becoming a mother is their sole
purpose in life, and it is their only option
...

-It could be said that in both, men and women are placed on a greater level of equality: in
the poem, they are equal, and in THT, they are sometimes equally as oppressed

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