Poetry NEA
“The World’s Wife collection is an arena for formerly voiceless women who have
been marginalised to tell their own story.”
Using ideas from the critical anthology, what extent do you agree with this view?
From a history that is steeped in the achievements and greatness of men, the female voice
is often silenced. Duffy endeavours to tackle the inequality that has been faced by women
for centuries, as she weaves folklore and history with contemporary problems — taking
form in her compilation of poems; The World’s Wife. Duffy treats this collection as an arena
in which she is able to satirically entertain the reader whilst advocating for a much more
serious matter: female equality. Two poems that explore this view in the collection is an
arena for formerly voiceless women who have been marginalised to tell their own story are
The Kray Sisters and Mrs Aesop — both of which mock male supremacy and protest for
their voices to be heard.
Central to the theme of striving for female equality, Duffy often alters famous male figures
in order to provide an alternative female voice. In The Kray Sisters, Duffy has manipulated
the characters of the notorious London gangsters, (Ronnie and Reggie Kray) by imagining
them to have alter-egos, which take the form of two assertive and militant female feminists.
Even though The Kray Sisters are fabricated characters, references to real, formerly
voiceless and marginalised women are made within the poem, which is an example of how
Duffy weaves folklore with history; whereby she utilises The Kray Sisters to tell the story of
these women and reassert the female voice. The Kray Sisters is the only poem in the
entire collection that is not a dramatic monologue, and the selection of voices used are
arguably a stance by Duffy, who attempts to restore a voice to the formerly voiceless, as
well as advocate for this voice to be heard. Duffy draws numerous parallels between the
Kray Twins and The Kray Sisters in order to cement the underlying theme of female
equality which is central to the entire collection. Just as the Kray Twins gained strength
from their alliance of having an alike physical appearance, The Kray Sisters also note that:
“no one could tell us apart,” which suggests the power of female solidarity and compares it
to that of the notorious brothers; subsequently challenging male dominance when under
threat by formerly voiceless women who have been marginalised have the opportunity to
tell their own story. The use of cockney slang creates a humorous and sardonic tone that
mocks the patriarchy and reasserts femininity; such as “thr’penny bits,” which ridicules the
objectification of women whist celebrating feminine attributes.This accentuates the extent
to which this view can be agreed with, as women are often silenced against male
objectification, but Duffy provides a voice to the formerly voiceless, whom have been
marginalised against male supremacy and silenced from telling their own story.
The suffragettes are a central theme within The Kray Sisters, referred to multiple times.
They mention “a tough suffragette who’d knocked out a grand national horse,” which is an
allusion to suffragette Emily Davidson, who threw herself under the horse of King Edward
VII at the Epsom Derby of 1913 and died for the cause of feminism. Davidson died as a
result of the injuries she received from the horse, yet it is symbolic that this horse was
owned by a male monarch — two sources of extreme power that is emblematic of the
silencing and marginalising of women at male hands. Being unable to tell her story herself,
The Kray Sisters tell it for her, which again would incline one to agree with the view that
The Worlds Wife collection is an arena for formerly voiceless women to tell their own story.
Similarly, the mention of “Emmeline’s Army” is an allusion to the suffragettes and their
leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, as a unit — highlighting female solidarity which is reinforced
, through Duffy’s use of enjambment in the poem in order to create a flowing narrative that
protests the idea that women have no hesitation in their aims in life, and by coming
together, these aims can be achieved. Duffy reasserts this message through the poetic
voices who refer to “those birds who fought for the Vote, salt of the earth.” The
capitalisation of “Vote” denotes the importance of what has been achieved when females
collectively challenge male supremacy and assert their rights, and the mocking of
misogynistic male phrases such as “those birds” is contradicted by “salt of the earth” — a
saying that is used to celebrate female greatness when given their own voice.
In order to cement the The World’s Wife collection as an arena for formerly voiceless
women who have been marginalised to tell their own story, Duffy cites multitudes of
powerful female figures of modern history; who were marginalised due to the mere fact
that as a woman, they were seen as the inferior gender. Whilst “Garland singing” refers to
Judy Garland — an early supporter of the gay community in the 1950s and 1960s, “Twiggy
and Lulu” are representations of the ‘swinging sixties’; and both of these mentions refer to
an era of sexual liberation, likely because of the contraception pill. This is a direct contrast
to the previous mention of “Piccadilly way,” which alludes to the back-street abortion
services before it became legalised and emphasises how marginalised and restricted of
rights women once were, but also how much can be achieved when women come together
as one. Despite “Yoko” being a successful artist, she is widely known as ‘John Lennon’s
wife’ and is the embodiment of what Duffy is attempting to protest in her collection, giving
these voiceless and marginalised women the opportunity to tell their own story; and it is
appropriate that the poem is concluded with Nancy Sinatra’s song ‘These Boots Are Made
For Walkin’,’ which condemns male abuse and quite literally becomes an arena where a
formerly voiceless woman who has been marginalised can tell her own story.
Similarly, Mrs Aesop is a poem within the collection that also begins in media res; evoking
a colloquial tone which establishes the voice of the formerly voiceless Mrs Aesop.
However, contrary to The Kray Sisters, Mrs Aesop is a dramatic monologue —and it was
arguably Duffy’s intention to provide Mrs Aesop with a voice that is not distorted by male
intervention, and is also heard by an audience, to allow the poem to become an arena for
the formerly voiceless Mrs Aesop — who has been marginalised under the shadow of her
husband — to tell her own story. This is encapsulated through the free verse that is
apparent in various sections of the poem; “never mind the two worth less in the bush.
Tedious” gives Mrs Aesop ultimate freedom and expression to articulate her story.
However, Duffy protests how women will always be bound to archetypes of femininity,
regardless of how much freedom they possess, as Mrs Aesop is presented as a
conventional woman that embodies one of Berten’s stereotypes, the “eternally dissatisfied
shrew”1 as she is trapped in an unhappy marriage that doesn’t satisfy her. Her
dissatisfaction is reinforced by Duffy throughout the poem within Mrs Aesop’s
contemptuous tone, as she laments “according to him,” implying how the male voice
always attempts to overpower and silence the female one. However, it can be argued that
instead of agreeing with Berten’s stereotypes, Duffy mocks them — projecting these
stereotypes to be a product of male ignorance and incompetence. In regard to Berten’s
stereotypes, the credibility of this view is hindered, and it cannot be agreed to such great
extent, as Mrs Aesop can be viewed as a poem that is partially an attack on males rather
than solely a celebration of women with the objective of restoring their voices.
Nevertheless, this view is remains plausible. In the final stanza of Mrs Aesop, the
protagonist quite literally is given the opportunity to tell her own story; as she creates her
1 Bertens, H. (2001) Literary Theory: The Basics, Abingdon: Routledge, pp.94-95 and pp.97-99
“The World’s Wife collection is an arena for formerly voiceless women who have
been marginalised to tell their own story.”
Using ideas from the critical anthology, what extent do you agree with this view?
From a history that is steeped in the achievements and greatness of men, the female voice
is often silenced. Duffy endeavours to tackle the inequality that has been faced by women
for centuries, as she weaves folklore and history with contemporary problems — taking
form in her compilation of poems; The World’s Wife. Duffy treats this collection as an arena
in which she is able to satirically entertain the reader whilst advocating for a much more
serious matter: female equality. Two poems that explore this view in the collection is an
arena for formerly voiceless women who have been marginalised to tell their own story are
The Kray Sisters and Mrs Aesop — both of which mock male supremacy and protest for
their voices to be heard.
Central to the theme of striving for female equality, Duffy often alters famous male figures
in order to provide an alternative female voice. In The Kray Sisters, Duffy has manipulated
the characters of the notorious London gangsters, (Ronnie and Reggie Kray) by imagining
them to have alter-egos, which take the form of two assertive and militant female feminists.
Even though The Kray Sisters are fabricated characters, references to real, formerly
voiceless and marginalised women are made within the poem, which is an example of how
Duffy weaves folklore with history; whereby she utilises The Kray Sisters to tell the story of
these women and reassert the female voice. The Kray Sisters is the only poem in the
entire collection that is not a dramatic monologue, and the selection of voices used are
arguably a stance by Duffy, who attempts to restore a voice to the formerly voiceless, as
well as advocate for this voice to be heard. Duffy draws numerous parallels between the
Kray Twins and The Kray Sisters in order to cement the underlying theme of female
equality which is central to the entire collection. Just as the Kray Twins gained strength
from their alliance of having an alike physical appearance, The Kray Sisters also note that:
“no one could tell us apart,” which suggests the power of female solidarity and compares it
to that of the notorious brothers; subsequently challenging male dominance when under
threat by formerly voiceless women who have been marginalised have the opportunity to
tell their own story. The use of cockney slang creates a humorous and sardonic tone that
mocks the patriarchy and reasserts femininity; such as “thr’penny bits,” which ridicules the
objectification of women whist celebrating feminine attributes.This accentuates the extent
to which this view can be agreed with, as women are often silenced against male
objectification, but Duffy provides a voice to the formerly voiceless, whom have been
marginalised against male supremacy and silenced from telling their own story.
The suffragettes are a central theme within The Kray Sisters, referred to multiple times.
They mention “a tough suffragette who’d knocked out a grand national horse,” which is an
allusion to suffragette Emily Davidson, who threw herself under the horse of King Edward
VII at the Epsom Derby of 1913 and died for the cause of feminism. Davidson died as a
result of the injuries she received from the horse, yet it is symbolic that this horse was
owned by a male monarch — two sources of extreme power that is emblematic of the
silencing and marginalising of women at male hands. Being unable to tell her story herself,
The Kray Sisters tell it for her, which again would incline one to agree with the view that
The Worlds Wife collection is an arena for formerly voiceless women to tell their own story.
Similarly, the mention of “Emmeline’s Army” is an allusion to the suffragettes and their
leader, Emmeline Pankhurst, as a unit — highlighting female solidarity which is reinforced
, through Duffy’s use of enjambment in the poem in order to create a flowing narrative that
protests the idea that women have no hesitation in their aims in life, and by coming
together, these aims can be achieved. Duffy reasserts this message through the poetic
voices who refer to “those birds who fought for the Vote, salt of the earth.” The
capitalisation of “Vote” denotes the importance of what has been achieved when females
collectively challenge male supremacy and assert their rights, and the mocking of
misogynistic male phrases such as “those birds” is contradicted by “salt of the earth” — a
saying that is used to celebrate female greatness when given their own voice.
In order to cement the The World’s Wife collection as an arena for formerly voiceless
women who have been marginalised to tell their own story, Duffy cites multitudes of
powerful female figures of modern history; who were marginalised due to the mere fact
that as a woman, they were seen as the inferior gender. Whilst “Garland singing” refers to
Judy Garland — an early supporter of the gay community in the 1950s and 1960s, “Twiggy
and Lulu” are representations of the ‘swinging sixties’; and both of these mentions refer to
an era of sexual liberation, likely because of the contraception pill. This is a direct contrast
to the previous mention of “Piccadilly way,” which alludes to the back-street abortion
services before it became legalised and emphasises how marginalised and restricted of
rights women once were, but also how much can be achieved when women come together
as one. Despite “Yoko” being a successful artist, she is widely known as ‘John Lennon’s
wife’ and is the embodiment of what Duffy is attempting to protest in her collection, giving
these voiceless and marginalised women the opportunity to tell their own story; and it is
appropriate that the poem is concluded with Nancy Sinatra’s song ‘These Boots Are Made
For Walkin’,’ which condemns male abuse and quite literally becomes an arena where a
formerly voiceless woman who has been marginalised can tell her own story.
Similarly, Mrs Aesop is a poem within the collection that also begins in media res; evoking
a colloquial tone which establishes the voice of the formerly voiceless Mrs Aesop.
However, contrary to The Kray Sisters, Mrs Aesop is a dramatic monologue —and it was
arguably Duffy’s intention to provide Mrs Aesop with a voice that is not distorted by male
intervention, and is also heard by an audience, to allow the poem to become an arena for
the formerly voiceless Mrs Aesop — who has been marginalised under the shadow of her
husband — to tell her own story. This is encapsulated through the free verse that is
apparent in various sections of the poem; “never mind the two worth less in the bush.
Tedious” gives Mrs Aesop ultimate freedom and expression to articulate her story.
However, Duffy protests how women will always be bound to archetypes of femininity,
regardless of how much freedom they possess, as Mrs Aesop is presented as a
conventional woman that embodies one of Berten’s stereotypes, the “eternally dissatisfied
shrew”1 as she is trapped in an unhappy marriage that doesn’t satisfy her. Her
dissatisfaction is reinforced by Duffy throughout the poem within Mrs Aesop’s
contemptuous tone, as she laments “according to him,” implying how the male voice
always attempts to overpower and silence the female one. However, it can be argued that
instead of agreeing with Berten’s stereotypes, Duffy mocks them — projecting these
stereotypes to be a product of male ignorance and incompetence. In regard to Berten’s
stereotypes, the credibility of this view is hindered, and it cannot be agreed to such great
extent, as Mrs Aesop can be viewed as a poem that is partially an attack on males rather
than solely a celebration of women with the objective of restoring their voices.
Nevertheless, this view is remains plausible. In the final stanza of Mrs Aesop, the
protagonist quite literally is given the opportunity to tell her own story; as she creates her
1 Bertens, H. (2001) Literary Theory: The Basics, Abingdon: Routledge, pp.94-95 and pp.97-99
