HIgher- Scottish Text: Duffy- poetry notes- UPDATED: All poems plus blank and completed overview and themes sheets to download

'Valentine'

• In this intense love poem Duffy rejects the traditional symbols of love, such as 'red roses' or 'satin hearts' in favour of 'an onion'.
• She views these as empty gestures of love.
• Instead she tells her lover, and the reader, that her love is more original, honest and true.
• She shows her wit and poetic cleverness by managing to keep the extended metaphor of the onion being like her love going throughout the poem.
• Turns an ordinary object, the 'onion‘, into an unusual symbol of love.
• In a way she makes it seem a more appropriate symbol than traditional Valentine gifts.

Annotation notes

• First word is negative- shows determined rejection of typical gifts
• Alliteration of ‘r’- harsh enforcing rejection/passion against gifts
• Next line begins extended metaphor
• Direct address- also shows person tone- intimacy and force
• Short sentence emphasises commanding nature-force of emotions.
• Along with the first line, this line takes reader by surprise as speaker rejects conventional Valentine gifts in favour of an onion.
• Metaphor – ‘a moon wrapped in brown paper’ refers to the romantic connotations that the moon carries. The moon influences the tides and all water on earth. Since 75% of the earth is water and our own bodies also contain the same amount, it means it also has an effect on our emotions too. The moon is regularly credited in literature with governing or controlling women’s passion and desires. In ancient mythology the moon was ruled by Diana, a goddess worshipped by the Roman women. She had two sides to her personality; the pure maiden and the huntress. She was believed to help pregnant women through labour, yet had a violent side to her. Duffy makes use of this in stanza 6 and 7, where love becomes a desperate hunt with violent imagery.
• However at this point, the image of moon/onion takes on a sensual image, and we have a hint of love-making as the beginning of the relationship. Note the 'undressing'- both act of love-making but also removing of layers to get to know one another.
• Single word command sentence: 'Here.' Duffy employing colloquial style to represent speech.. Recipient appears to need encouragement to accept gift. Very intimate, confident and bold.
• The onion is then compared to a lover and the way love often leaves us in tears. A large part of being in love is also the risk of being left heart-broken. This connection is explored in the way an onion stings our eyes when we try to get to the ‘heart’ of it (cut it), the same way we may be stung by another person’s heartlessness or by the hurt that can be caused as we get to know someone.
• Enjambment changes meaning of line before and after and acts as a kind of warning of the harsh reality of love.
• Metaphor alluding to seeing love or your reflection through tear-filled eyes. Continues with negative, warning tone. Imagery where we are looking ‘through’ the eyes of the upset lover who may be gazing at a their own reflection in the mirror and crying at the same time.
• Enjambment emphasises continuation- it will not only happen once.
• 'I am trying...' A single sentence stanza that stands on its own. Duffy underlines how she is trying telling the bitter truth half-way through the poem. A line conveying honesty. Note harsh alliteration of 'T'.
• 'Not...' can be seen as the ‘second half’ of the poem and refers back to the first stanza.
  Repetition: Both stanzas have the same syllable count (9), similar wording ‘Not’ and a rejection of two typical symbols of love ‘cute card‘ and ‘kissogram‘.
  NOTE: Kissograms are not used now, but during the 70’s were popular. Kissograms were people who were hired on special days/ occasions like valentine’s day to go round and kiss the sweetheart on behalf of their lover with a special message.
• Repetition: Mirrors the first line of stanza 2, carrying on with the pattern of repetition established in stanza 5.
• 'It's fierce...' Ambiguous tone. Implying that, whether the lovers are together or not, love will leave its mark and be hard to remove, like the taste of onion. Images of jealousy and violence begin to creep into the notion of romantic love. Perhaps a possessive lover would kiss fiercely- wishing to leave a mark. Sibilance reminds us of the sound of a kiss but also creates sinister undertones
• 'possessive and faithful
  as we are'- Sibilance shows continuity, use of 'we'- Sense of intimacy- together.
  Juxtaposition (contrast) of ideas. Tone becomes ambiguous (unclear) as “possessive” can be a negative trait in a relationship whereas “faithful” is a positive. The lingering nature of love is further illustrated through the way an onion’s smell clings stubbornly to our fingers when we cut it. The key word here is ‘possessive’, which could hint at obsessive love and unhealthy relationships- showing both positive and negative aspects of love.
   Enjambment -Suggests that the couple are very much in love . Draws attention to ‘ as we are’
  

• 'For as long as we are.'-Again, changes the tone and makes it ambiguous as it goes against traditional valentine theme of being together ‘forever’. 

  •'Take it' -Direct address. Command. Duffy is still addressing her readership in a bold and confident tone. Unromantic, unconventional but does show passion- as if her lover must take her symbol of love- must understand her passion! 

  •'Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
  if you like.'- 'platinum loops'-Metaphor- Wedding ring but also loops of an onion. Platinum is expensive but also long-lasting. The loops of the onion are compared to a wedding ring that ‘shrink’ which implies being trapped. The loops are ‘platinum’, meaning a very precious metal, which is ironic because the onion is not at all precious or desirable. When all is peeled away and revealed, you are left with the tradition symbol of love and marriage- a wedding ring. 'shrink'-Negative? An onion’s loops shrink as you use it- how could this relate to a relationship?  ‘if you like’- added to show that the relationship could result in marriage, but it is not necessary for the things that will inevitably follow. Element of choice. Like a traditional Valentine- it contains a proposal.

•  'Lethal'- Minor- one word sentence changes tone – threatening or warning. Again colloquial.
  The word ‘lethal’ is on it’s own, drawing attention to it and emphasising that love can be fatal or at least extremely painful!
  
  •'Its scent will cling to your fingers,
  cling to your knife'.-The last two lines again imply the smell of the onion and introduces the knife. Like the scent of onion, Love will be difficult to remove or shake off.
  Could be seen as an implied threat. Just as onions are chopped, the speaker’s lover has the ability to end the relationship, although she warns that the feelings associated with their love will remain.
  This is when the image of the moon (Diana) as huntress becomes relevant, as the dark side of romantic love (or the moon) can reveal itself in the later stages of the relationship.
  
  It can also be seen as a comment on how love cuts through layers, ideas and preconceptions, as a knife. 
   Voice
  
  
  Written in first person
  
  Appears to be the poet addressing her lover as ‘you’, but can also be seen as universal: from any lover to any beloved (for example there is no indication of gender) Duffy writes colloquially as if speaking so single words or phrases work as sentences
  
  Structure/Form
  
  
  What do you notice about the lines of the poem and how it is constructed?
  •Length- some quite short lines for impact. They’re quite simple too, in order to convey plain verity (truthfulness)
  •Caesura – a dramatic pause using punctuation. This works well with present tense (immediacy)
  •Repetition – to reinforce, emphasise a point
  •Anaphora – a type of repetition, same start to lines
  •Enjambment – when lines run onto one another without a full stop at the end of them. Helps it flow or mixes it up and changes the rhythm (free-verse = no rhyme).
  •Breaks between stanzas mark longer pauses so that we see how the poem is meant to be read aloud and thus which words are emphasised most.
  •The structure supports the argument (the ideas in it)- it is irregular and does not fit a pattern- just like love.
  •Single isolated lines reject conventional gifts and show force and honesty.
  
  
  

  'Havisham'

  
  §The speaker in the poem is the character of Miss Havisham, taken from the Dickens novel ‘Great Expectations’.
  §In the novel, she is deserted at the altar on her wedding day by her husband-to-be.
  §She is completely devastated and never recovers.
  §She continues to wear her decaying wedding dress, adopts a daughter and brings her up teaching her to hate all men.
  §The poem is a monologue. 
  Main ideas:
  §Damage that can be done by insensitive males/partners.
  §Relationships – the thin line between love and hate.
  §How one event can profoundly affect a life.
  §How some people never recover from personal trauma.
  §How social convention/prejudice can cause unhappiness.
  
  
  Style- dramatic monologue:
  §Dramatic monologue in poetry shares many characteristics with a theatrical monologue on stage.
  §The poet speaks through a character’s voice.
  §Language is often colloquial. Often no ryhme. This makes it sound more like real speech/ ‘not a poem’.
  §No dialogue, but a listener is implied
  §The character tries to persuade us to understand his/ her feelings and opinions.
  §Usually the character ends up unintentionally revealing their own flaws.
  §As a dramatic monologue is one person’s speech, it is offered without judgement. The poet leaves the reader to make up their own minds about the character.e.g. character might ask a question.

Annotation

§'Beloved sweetheart bastard '

The poem begins as if addressed to the jilting bridegroom.

It doesn't continue in this direct address - by the end of the poem the male figure will have become a male corpse - any male (generalised).

The most striking thing about the first sentence is the combination of 'love' (beloved sweetheart) and hatred (bastard).

Duffy is interested in the unstable combination of desire and hatred.

Final thoughts:

§Perhaps Miss defines the character socially - whereas the poem concentrates on the nature of the character's individual feelings - the character's psychological/sexual nature, rather than her social being.
§ Perhaps the lack of a title to the name i.e. Miss or Mrs is symbolic of the position felt by Havisham- neither single nor married.
§The lack of ‘miss’ makes her seem less of a woman, which could relate to the dehumanisation we see in the poem through expressions like 'cawing' etc.
§Whichever way you look at it, Duffy wants to examine the sexuality of Miss Havisham and explore the sheer amount of pain the character has suffered. This is why Duffy chooses to write the poem in the first person.

'Originally'

context

•Memories play a significant role in the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy, particularly her recollections of childhood places and events.
•The poem "Originally," published in The Other Country (1990), draws specifically from memories of Duffy's family's move from Scotland to England when she and her siblings were very young. The first-born child, Duffy was just old enough to feel a deep sense of personal loss and fear as she travelled farther and farther away from the only place she had known as "home" and the family neared its alien destination. This sentiment is captured in "Originally," in which it is described in the rich detail and defining language of both the child who has had the experience and the adult who recalls it.
• As the title suggests, a major concern of the poem is beginnings—one's roots, birthplace, and homeland

The main concern is the effect place has on identity

•“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters
•
•“Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.”
― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
•
•“I'm not really sure which parts of myself are real and which parts are things I've gotten from books.”
― Beatrice Sparks, Go Ask Alice
•
•“We experience ourselves our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest.’- Albert Einstein
•
•"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
•
•"Humans live best when each has his place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy the person."
Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986), ‘Dune’


Analysis

The first metaphor here describes the vehicle as a red room.


‘We came from our own country in a red room’

Just as a ‘red room’ would feel uneasy, aggressive and as if it was closing in on you, so too the car/van made Duffy feel insecure, angry and vulnerable.


‘In a red room/which fell through the fields’

Just as falling is scary, fast, ends in hurt, so too Duffy felt that the journey was alarming, went by too quickly and would end in distress.


 Enjambment

Enjambment occurs when a new line of the poem is taken without the sentence coming to an end.

This makes the reader pause and draws emphasis on the last and first words of the enjambed lines or the relation between them.

Often the first line will make sense without the continuation- this draws emphasis onto the continued part of the sentence.

Enjambment may also be used to show the continuation of something.


Caesura

Caesuras are essentially nothing more than breaks in rhythm, thought, or syntax that occur anywhere between the beginning and end of a line. In other words, they’re the same as an end-stopped line except that the “end-stopping” occurs in the middle of the line. This is usually marked by some form of punctuation:

‘where we didn't live any more. I stared’

The full-stop here is a caesura as it does not occur at the end of the line where we would expect as end-stop to be.

Caesuras create a pause and can be used to make the reader think about the last line- to draw emphasis on it, or to create a sense of agitation or hesitance. Here it adds tension and drama, to the phrase ‘I stared’, and adds to the feeling of sadness experienced by Duffy.

Annotation

 

Main Theme: Identity

"Originally" is a poem about a child fearful of losing her identity and the struggle she goes through in an attempt to retain it and understand it. The title itself indicates the significance of roots and of having definite origins, something the speaker worries she has lost by being forced to leave her native country at such a young age. The temperament within the family as a whole seems harmonious enough: the mother sings the father's name "to the turn of the wheels," and there is no mention of quarrelling among the children. Instead, it is the idea of place, not people, moulding identity.

In the last line Duffy questions: where do you come from? Originally? And makes us question where our identity comes from, what makes us us and where did that start? We question whether we can pinpoint the moment that made us who we are today, and to what extent place and the loss of place affects who we are and who we become. 

Style

The poem is written in ‘Loose Blank Verse’
•Traditional blank verse is composed of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, which means lines of ten syllables with the accent on the first syllable of each pair of syllables. A common example is the work of Shakespeare, whose plays are written in this form. In the line, "If music be the food of love, play on" (Twelfth Night, act 1, scene 1, line 1), note the TA-dum TA-dum TA-dum TA-dum TA-dum rhythm.
•=
•Defined more loosely, blank verse can mean any unrhymed poetry, only slight attention being given to the structure of iambic pentameter.

•Some lines of our poem fit to iambic pentameter but others don’t, and the use of caesura and enjambment detract from the rhythm that would be created by this. Therefore there is a loose structure. This structure is symbolic of identity- it is not something that is regular- that fits an exact pattern.

'Hathaway'

Anne Hathaway – Overview This poem, like Mrs Midas, comes from The World’s Wife, Duffy’s first themed collection of poems.

In this set of poems, Duffy considers both real and fictional characters, stories, histories and myths that focus on men, and gives voice to the women associated with them.

Although Havisham was published a year earlier, it makes a good comparison with this poem since both take the perspective of a woman living without her lover - Havisham having been jilted at the altar, while Hathaway has been widowed.

Anne Hathaway was the wife of William Shakespeare. She was seven years his senior and already pregnant when the 18-year-old, Shakespeare married her.

The "second best bed"

The poem begins with an epigraph taken directly from Shakespeare’s will in which despite being a man of some considerable property, he leaves Anne only his “second best bed”.

While some critics have viewed this as an insult, Duffy presents a new perspective, using the bed as a metaphor for the intense passion and romance shared by the couple. The second best bed was in fact the couple’s marital bed, while the best was reserved for guests. Duffy imagines, then, that this legacy was the playwright’s last romantic gesture.

Form and structure

Fittingly, Duffy employs the sonnet form so adored by Shakespeare. This 14-line structure is often associated with love poetry, and is highly appropriate given the subject matter of the poem. Shakespeariean sonnets contain three quatrains and a couplet.

The quatrains usually present the key ideas explored by the poet with the resolution or 'volta' (an Italian term which literally translates as: the turn) arriving in the couplet.

In the poem, Duffy quite literally employs a softer rhyme with a much more relaxed, less restrictive rhyme scheme, combined with overtly sensual, erotic language and imagery. She uses a regular meter but her deliberate choices of assonance and alliteration are designed to imitate the random touching made during lovemaking, so that it is almost as though the words themselves are grazing each other.

Duffy makes frequent use of enjambment in the poem to show how freely and without obstruction love flowed between the couple, as well as to place emphasis on important words or phrases.

The entire poem is a metaphor comparing the couple’s love making to the process of artistic and poetic creativity.

First quatrain

'The bed we loved in was a spinning world 
of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas 
where we would dive for pearls. My lover’s words 
were shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses.'

Immediately the reader is transported to a magical landscape filled with metaphor, especially appropriate given that Shakespeare himself was the master of this technique.

'The bed is a spinning world' suggests their love made Anne dizzy and was all encompassing.

Interestingly, despite bearing him three children, the persona of Anne created by Duffy makes no reference to this aspect of her marriage, focusing on their relationship as lovers rather than as parents.

The 'forests', 'castles', 'torchlight', 'clifftops', and 'seas' recall the setting of some of Shakespeare’s more famous works such as Macbeth, Hamlet and The Tempest, suggesting a link between these iconic works of literature and the poetry which together are echoes of the excitement that took place in this bed.

In their lovemaking, the couple found something precious and valuable, as implied by the 'pearls' in line three. This intimate, sensual tone is continued in the metaphor comparing her lover’s words to 'shooting stars which fell to earth as kisses'.

Hathaway was seduced by her lover’s language and poetry, which literally seems to fall from the heavens as though a gift from the gods before transforming into the physical touch of a kiss.

Second quatrain

'On these lips; my body now a softer rhyme
 to his, now echo, assonance; his touch 
a verb dancing in the centre of a noun. 
Some nights, I dreamed he’d written me, the bed."

In this quatrain, Duffy extends the language metaphor - Anne's body is a softer rhyme to her husband's harder, more masculine body, while the erotic touch of his hand on her body is described as 'a verb dancing in the centre of a noun'.

This deliberate comparison elevates their lovemaking to something poetic and, in doing so, literary or linguistic terms become loaded with sensuality. Anne imagines too that, like the characters in his plays, Shakespeare has 'written her', suggesting that it is only when she regards herself through his eyes and imagination that she feels fully alive.

The reference again to the bed at the end of line eight creates a link to the opening line of the poem and reinforces the symbolic significance of the bed as a representation of their love.

Third quatrain

'A page beneath his writer’s hands. Romance 
and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste. 
In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on, 
dribbling their prose. My living laughing love-'

The enjambment from line eight continues the extended metaphor from the previous quatrain as the bed is compared to the parchment on which the passion and excitement so associated with the playwright was written.

All the romance and drama contained in these pages was played out or begun on their bed, and again Duffy implies that the inspiration for his characters and plots came from their lovemaking. The word 'romance' is deliberately placed at the end of line nine to emphasise that this is what she most associates with their relationship.

The senses 'touch', 'scent', and 'taste' are employed to reinforce just how vividly she can still recall their lovemaking, as though through immersing herself in these memories she can experience this passion once more

In a marked contrast, she compares the poetry and sensuality of their lovemaking with those who slept in the other bed. In a withering, disparaging comment she asserts that they are only capable of 'dribbling' their prose. The implication is clear - poetry symbolises the most skilful and creative use of language while prose by comparison is ordinary, utilitarian and unexceptional.

At the end of this quatrain, Duffy employs elongated assonance in the phrase 'My living laughing love' to emphasise again how vividly and clearly the speaker can recall their passion, suggesting that her lover continues in some ways to exist and survive in her memory. The dash creates a pause to allow us to reflect on this idea and prepare us for the resolution and the final couple

The Couplet

'I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head 
as he held me upon that next best bed."

The final couplet ends with the full rhyme of 'head' and 'bed' to provide a defined conclusion to the poem.

The metaphor of holding her lover in the protective 'casket' of her imagination reiterates the idea presented in the previous line that, in our way, our memory of a deceased loved one allows their continued existence.

Duffy seems to suggest that this is much more fitting than an urn or coffin which, although they may contain the physical remnants of a body, can never capture the energy or vitality of the person's character. By remembering her husband, and replaying her memories of their passion, the speaker is really honouring his true legacy and repaying him for the way that he held her in that next best bed.

Themes

This poem deals has three main themes:

• passion
• sensual erotic love
• death and remembrance

In the poem, Duffy really concentrates on conveying that this was a marriage based on an all - encompassing, deeply physical relationship. She uses the physical legacy of the bed left by Shakespeare to his wife to meditate on this specific aspect of their relationship.

In doing so, she presents a couple completely in tune with each other both sexually and emotionally.

Fittingly, in a poem about the world’s greatest ever poet and wordsmith, she uses language itself as an extended metaphor to convey the intensity of their passion.

As well as emphasising the profound physical connection of the lovers, Duffy also considers that the most fitting way to honour our dead loved ones is by preserving the most enduring, vivid aspects of their character in our memories, thus allowing them to continue to survive.

Further annotation

 

 

'War Photographer'

Overview

In this poem, Duffy describes the experience of a war photographer, whose job it is to witness terrible crimes against humanity and bring them back to us many miles away.

The poem is about how he deals with this kind of traumatic experience.

It asks questions about how we react to disaster in other countries.

You can appreciate the poem without having strong opinions on these matters, but Duffy encourages us to think for ourselves. In the end, it is up to you as a reader to decide what you think.

Duffy uses a lot of poetic techniques and often taps into the symbolic associations of ordinary words. In the first stanza the photographer is in the 'darkroom' and the 'only light is red'. The process of developing a photograph is turned into something ominous. A darkroom is a room where photographs are developed but the context changes it to a portmanteau where we think of a dark room. Dark contains the idea of evil, moral darkness and gives a sinister atmosphere. The colour red is associated with blood which makes the light deadly although light is normally associated with hope or clarity. Similarly, 'ordered rows' would sound innocent enough in other contexts, but here it makes us think of graves, or bodies waiting to be buried.

Duffy contrasts the world in the photographs to the world back home. This makes us aware of the enormous gulf between our lives and those of the people in the photographs. Maybe the contrast should also make us feel a little more appreciative of and thankful for what we have got in this country, and also perhaps makes us feel a little guilty that we take it for granted.

Sometimes a gulf like this can make it difficult for us to relate to these people.

However, Duffy makes us relate and react by using vivid, disturbing images, and by guiding us through the feelings of the photographer himself...

 Annotation

Imagery

Duffy creates some powerful and disturbing images in this poem such as:

'fields which don't explode beneath the feet of running children in a nightmare heat.'

It can be difficult for us to relate to suffering in faraway countries and so to make us feel angry and guilty about it Duffy has to use some disturbing and powerful images, images we would rather not think about, or really see.

She says we live by: 'Fields which don't explode beneath the feet/ Of running children in a nightmare heat.’

This image is effective because we would normally think of 'running children' in 'fields' as an image of fun. We also associate children with innocence, and the idea of them being hurt brings out our protective instincts. Duffy does not tell us what these children are running from, but describes it as some kind of 'nightmare heat', leaving it up to us to imagine our worst fears. In effect, this image is what happened before the images we have all seen on our TV's of children badly burnt, without legs or arms. We know while they are 'running' what will happen to them.
This strong image helps us to imagine and understand the suffering of war victims and incites strong emotion within the reader.



Try your own analysis of the following images:

'how the blood stained into foreign dust.'

'a hundred agonies in black-and-white.'

'The reader's eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.'

Form

Form is the structure and layout of the poem on the page..

It includes the type of stanzas the poet uses, and their rhyme scheme.

The regular form of this poem in some ways mirrors the sense of the photographer's attempt to order his strong emotions. The form is a way of containing, controlling and dealing with the anger and pain the poet feels.

The fact that the form is unchanging, that the stanzas are all of the same length and the rhyme scheme is constant suggests that despite the photographer's efforts nothing will change.

This idea is re-enforced by the fact that the poem starts with the photographer home from an assignment and ends with him off on one again.

The poem is circular, a closed loop where nothing can change. This emphasises the futility of the situation.

Summary

In most poetry questions you will be asked to write about the following:

• The subject(s) of the poem
• The attitude of the poet
• The poetic devices the poet uses

In other words you will be asked about what the poet is writing about, what the poet feels about the subject(s) and how the poem is written.

Subject

Duffy's poem is about how we deal with the suffering of others, who might be faraway. It takes the character of a war photographer to represent someone more involved and committed than we are.

Attitude

Duffy appears to admire the photographer, and be critical of the rest of us.

The poem is powerfully anti-war. However, elsewhere Duffy does not spell out her feelings, she allows readers to make their own judgements.

The form however suggests she is pessimistic about things changing for the better.

Style

Duffy uses the symbolic association of ordinary language. So that a simple word like 'dust' can carry lots of possible meaning.

She also includes some powerful imagery to shock us out of our complacency.

The use of a repetitive form suitably supports the ideas in the poem.

 

Word-choice

Word                                                                                             What this makes the reader think

Intone	Idea of a priest saying a mass in a chanting/preaching tone for effect and praise.  In the similar way a priest prepares for a funeral mass, remembering the dead, the photographer prepares his photographs as a remembrance of those who died in his pictures.
Solutions	"Solutions" refers literally to the developing fluid in the trays, but also suggests the idea of solving the political problems which cause war - "solutions" which he does not have, of course.
Rural	The word 'Rural' stands out as it creates the image of an idealised England that is covered in perfect countryside that is pure and has beautiful views. It suggests that England is peaceful place in comparison with the panic and chaos of war.
Stained	The word ‘Stained’ suggests the blood will leave a mark on the ground when it dries.  It will also leave an eternal mark on the memory of the photographer, who will never forget the traumatic image of the dead man; it will be ingrained in his mind.
Supplement	A newspaper supplement gives additional news that is not used in the main headlines or newspaper itself.  It suggests that the pictures are of secondary importance, not significant enough to make the main headline and not interesting enough to the reader who doesn’t really care enough to remember their important message.

Example Essay (written by a student) for notes.

The surface subject of the poem is the war photographer of the title but at a deeper level the poem explores the difference between "Rural England" and places where wars are fought (Northern Ireland, the Lebanon and Cambodia), between the comfort or indifference of the newspaper editor and its readers and the suffering of the people in the photographs.

 The photographer in the poem is anonymous: he could be any of those who record scenes of war. He is not so much a particular individual as an observer and recorder of others' lives. He is an outsider ("alone/With spools of suffering") who moves between two worlds but is comfortable in neither. The "ordered rows" of film spools may suggest how the photographer tries to bring order to what he records, to interpret or make sense of it. The image also conjures up visions of a graveyard scene where the spools of film are gravestones.

The simile which compares him to a priest shows how seriously he takes his job, and how (by photographing them) he stands up for those who cannot help themselves. His darkroom resembles a church in which his red light is like a coloured lantern. The image is also appropriate because, like a priest, he teaches how fragile we are and how short life is. ("All flesh is grass" is a quotation from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah contrasts the shortness of human life with eternal religious truths - "the Word of the Lord" which "abides forever"). In the poem, the sentence follows a list of names. These are places where life is even briefer than normal, because of wars.

The second stanza contrasts the photographer's calmness when taking pictures with his attitude as he develops them. If his hands shake when he takes pictures, they won't be any good, but in the darkroom he can allow his hands to tremble. This suggests that the full impact of the photographs is brought home to him only now. "Solutions" refers literally to the developing fluid in the trays, but also suggests the idea of solving the political problems which cause war - "solutions" which he does not have, of course. Duffy contrasts the fields in England with those abroad - as if the photographer thinks English fields unusual for not being minefields. The image is shocking, because he thinks of land mines as exploding not under soldiers but under "the feet of running children".

What "is happening" in the third stanza is that an image is gradually appearing as a photo develops. "Ghost" is ambiguous (it has more than one meaning). It suggests the faint emerging image, but also that the man in the photo is dead (which is why the picture was taken). The photographer recalls both the reaction of the wife on seeing her husband die. He is not able to ask for permission to take the picture (either there is no time or he does not speak the language or both) but he seeks "approval without words". It is as if the wife needs to approve of his recording the event while the blood stains "into foreign dust".

"In black and white" is ambiguous: it suggests the monochrome photographs but also the ideas of telling the truth and of the simple contrast of good and evil. The photographer has recorded some hundred images which are only a small sample of what has happened, yet only a handful will ever appear in print. Although the reader may be moved, to tears even, this sympathy is short-lived, between bathing and a drink before lunch. Duffy imagines the photographer finally looking down, from an aeroplane, on England (either coming or going). This is the country which pays his wages ("where/he earns his living") but where people "do not care" about the events he records.

Further notes

When studying the poem try to focus on some of the details. Look also at the poem's form. This form is quite traditional - the rhyme scheme and metre are the same in each stanza (there are rhyming couplets on the second and third lines and on the last two lines; each line is a pentameter) to show the order and precision of the job but also the idea that there is apttern here- war is something that will continue.

Duffy obviously feels something in common with her subject - she uses his experience to voice her own criticism of how comfortable Britons look at pictures of suffering, but do not know the reality. She sees the photographer (far removed from the paparazzi of the tabloids) as both priest and journalist. The reader's response to the Sunday newspaper is almost like going to church - for a while we are reminded of our neighbour's suffering, but by lunchtime we have forgotten what we learned.

Mrs Midas

This poem was a collection of poems written from female perspective, in order to give the otherwise marginalised / ignored a voice.
In this case, Duffy makes fun of the pretentiousness of men/the greed of Midas.

She combines wit and humour with a strong and important message – the flaws of human greed for wealth. Mrs Midas comes across as being warm and sympathetic and the possessor of a true “heart of gold”.

The myth/classical story
In Greek and Roman legend, Midas was a king known for his foolishness and greed. First told in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’, the myth of Midas is very well-known.
Midas, King of Phyrgia, captured Silenus, the companion of the god Dionysus. For his kind treatment of Silenus, Midas was rewarded by Dionysus with a wish.
Greed prompted the king to wish that all he touched might turn to gold, but he soon realised his error. Life becomes impossible as everything turns to gold. He is forced to ask Dionysis to reverse the wish.
 Learn more about the myth here

Duffy tells the story as though it was happening in 20th century England
The name Midas’ only appears in the poem’s title and there is no indication in the poem that anyone is royal or has a particularly elevated station in life.
The name “Pan” is used once (a passing reference to another aspect of the King Midas legend) but that is the only link to the classical original apart from the consistent theme of the “touch of gold”.

Duffy said: “The rhythm of the poem comes very much from my own family, my mother and my grandmother, which were actually Irish, so it is in an Irish voice, “What in the name of God is going on?” and “Look, we all have wishes; granted; /But who has wishes granted?” etc. I wanted to bring into the poem some of the rhythms of the exasperation of women.”

Style

Eleven six-line unrhymed stanzas. (One of her longest poems!)

It reads almost like prose with plenty of run-on lines and not much evidence of rhythm in the diction. However, there is plenty of rhythm in the ideas, as concepts build on each other and relationships between concepts become clear to the reader.

It is a poem that works well when read aloud, because the reader can add pauses that emphasise the links, and a number of these only become clear on a second or third reading when the words are read on the page.
Annotation

Main Themes
Love and relationships

Memory/time

Isolation

Female voice

Truth


Feelings?

Regret, anger, sadness, grief, pain, loss

Links to other poems

Love/relationships- Hathaway, Havisham, Val

Female voice- Hath, Hav,

Memory/Time- all except Val

Isolation- all except Val and Hath

 Truth- Val, War Photog

Overview and Themes sheets can be found at the link below:

https://msbellamyenglish.wordpress.com/duffy-overview-and-themes-sheets/ 

•