Essays on Modern Women Poets Essay Example

Essays on Modern Women Poets Essay Example Essays on Modern Women Poets Essay Essays on Modern Women Poets Essay Duffys feminist style of writing criticises the man as selfish and greedy, a common theme echoed throughout The Worlds Wife. Duffys women monologists are frequently powerful, vengeful women whose assertiveness, violence and aggression parodies stereotypes of male behaviour (Jones, 2005: 158) In contrast to Duffys male criticism, Jones believes she is empowering the women in her collection The Worlds Wife I disagree.I feel that she isnt trying to parody their behaviour to the stereotypes of mens, but rather highlight their bravery and what they have to cope with on their own, I think Duffys true message is to show just how much we as women need to deal with. The final line of Mrs. Midas, I miss most, even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch. brings the poem to a rather melancholy ending where Mrs. Midas, despite everything is still expressing her love for her husband and how much she misses him.Contrary to this point, Duffy has added a pun at the final two words, his touch. symbolising both the loving and destructive touch he had on their time together. The subtle dose of humour at the end lightens the mood slightly so you are not feeling entirely disheartened by the tragic ending to Mrs. Midas. The final two words of the poem are possibly designed to lift the mood from the tragic tale slightly. The pun, his touch. Symbolises both his literal loving touch and his destructive touch that he had on their relationship.Although this light use of humour is designed to soften the harsh criticisms Duffy makes towards mens implied destructive behaviour, it doesnt detract from the tragic ending, I miss most, even now, his hand s where Mrs. Midas expresses her love for her husband despite everything, I feel that this is intentionally designed to maximise the dislike towards the male role. The final poem of The Worlds Wife is Demeter, arguably the most intriguing of the collection, for it takes on a unique style that sets itself aside from the other poems.Rather than follow the satirical themes throughout the collection, Demeter takes on a celebratory style that gives a satisfied and pleasant ending to the book. Demeter tells the tale of her grief at the loss of her own daughter and the eternal motherly love she has for her. Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest. According to myth, Demeters daughter, Persephone, is kidnapped by Hades and forced to live in the Underworld with him for 4 months of each year. Where I lived winter and hard earth, Demeter is so overcome by grief for the loss of Persephone that she plunges the world into winter until the return of her daughter.I sat in my cold stone room. is a metaphor for her feeling trapped and helpless her world has become a tomb without her daughters presence. This poem speaks out particularly to mothers, but also to anyone with a loved one, the dramatic monologue is used to relate to anyone who has experienced the loss be it temporary or permanently, of a loved one. Perhaps the lack of rhyme is due to the complete hopelessness Demeter feels at the beginning of the poem, and the rhyming couplet at the end is a signal of her mourning coming to an end. Janet Lewison comments on the line, to break the ice.My broken heart -, Words resist involvement and connection: nothing and no one get to reach her. She cannot bring her daughter (and by implication herself) back from the place of the dead. Her words are arid and lifeless (Lewison, 2005) I agree with Lewisons comments on this line, I also think it applies to the entire first half of the poem. I particularly think it is true that Demeter feels as though she is in the land of the de ad, just like her daughter, as she has plunged the world into winter so that everyone else can suffer and feel the pain she is suffering.I think this is where Duffy is trying to outline how out of control we can become when struck by grief and how it will only get worse when echoing those feelings onto others. The hyphen at the end of that line creates a feeling as though Demeter has faltered or gasped, it shows she can barely think about it. At the third stanza a noticeable change has occurred in the poem, the mood is lifting. The repetition in the line She came from a long, long way communicates both the distance Persephone has come from and the time Demeter has endured without her, its almost like an exhale of relief.Using the word She instead of directly referring to her daughter shows there was no ambiguity over who it could have been. The final line of that stanza, my daughter, my girl, across the fields uses romantic and maternal language which speaks out to the reader so tha t you can relate to Demeters situation. As Demeters daughter returns from the land of the dead, in bare feet, bringing all springs flowers this symbolises the season of spring settling in, and bare feet connotes rebirth and innocence.with the small shy mouth of a new moon acknowledges that Persephones return is apart of a cycle, and she must return to the Underworld once again, but she will be back. The use of the word mouth I also think conveys Demeter meeting her daughter and kissing her with relief. The structure of this poem takes on the form of a fourteen-line sonnet, which Duffy has adapted slightly. Most of the poem contains no rhyme but includes a rhyming couplet at the final two lines to symbolise the joy Demeter is now feeling. A sonnet seems the perfect type of structure for this poem, as it is essentially a love poem from Demeter to her daughter.The final lines of the poem brings The Worlds Wife as a collection full circle with the line, in bare feet, bringing all spring s flowers which mirrors Out of the forest I come with my flowers taken from Little Red Cap, the very first poem of the book, this supports Demeters themes of rebirth and renewal. Mrs. Midas and Demeter are similar in that they are both based on mythological tales. I feel that using myth to base the dramatic monologues on creates a deeper and more fulfilling message. Both poems follow the themes of marriage, motherhood and the female voice.In terms of the structure of the mood they are both very similar, they both start off with a very heavy and melancholy tone, but end on a slightly lighter note. Duffy has used the dramatic monologue to convey her feminist message of the not so positive stereotype of men, but I feel this is to mask the deeper hidden meanings of love, relationships, betrayal and motherhood that Duffy has herself experienced.BibliographyJones, D (2005) Consorting with Angels: Essays on Modern Women Poets. Northumberland: Bloodaxe Books Drabble, M (2000) The Oxford Com panion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press