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Carol Ann Duffy

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Carol Ann Duffy at Humber Mouth 2009 (3646825708)

Carol Ann Duffy in 2009. Photo by Maggie Hannan. Licensed under Creative Commons, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Carol Ann Duffy
Born December 23 1955 (1955-12-23) (age 69)
Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation Poet, playwright
Language English
Nationality Scottish
Ethnicity Scottish / Irish
Citizenship United Kingdom British
Education B.A. (Hons) Philosophy
Alma mater University of Liverpool
Notable award(s) OBE 1995; CBE 2002; poet laureate 2009
Children Ella (born 1995) with Peter Benson
Relative(s) May Black (mother) died 2005; Frank Duffy (father)

Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright.

Life[]

Overview[]

Duffy is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in May 2009.[1] She was the 1st woman, the 1st Scot, and the 1st openly gay person to serve as Laureate.[2]

Her collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture (2005), winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize. Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and violence, in an accessible language that has made them popular in schools.[3]

Life[]

Youth and education[]

Duffy was born to a Roman Catholic family in the Gorbals (a very poor part of Glasgow), the first child of Scot Frank Duffy, an electrical fitter whose grandparents were Irish, and May (Black), who was Irish herself.[4] The couple went on to have another four children, all boys, the family moving to Stafford, England, when Duffy was six years old. Her father worked for English Electric. He was also a trade unionist, and stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party in 1983, managing Stafford Rangers football club in his spare time.[4]

Duffy was educated in Stafford at Saint Austin's RC Primary School (1962–1967), St. Joseph's Convent School (1967-1970), and Stafford Girls' High School]] (1970-1974), her literary talent encouraged by two English teachers, June Scriven at St Joseph's, and Jim Walker at Stafford Girls' High.[4] She was a passionate reader from an early age, and always wanted to be a writer, producing poems from the age of 11. When an English teacher of hers died, she wrote: "You sat on your desk,/ swinging your legs, reading a poem by Yeats/ to the bored girls, except my heart stumbled and blushed/ as it fell in love with the words and I saw the tree/ in the scratched old desk under my hands, heard the bird in the oak outside scribble itself on the air." [5]

Career[]

Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.

“
”
From "Prayer",
Mean Time, Anvil, 1994 [6]

When Duffy was 15, June Scriven sent her poems to Outposts, a publisher of pamphlets, where it was read by bookseller Bernard Stone, who published some of them. When she was 16, she met Adrian Henri, the English poet, and decided she wanted to be with him, living with him until 1982. "He gave me confidence," she said, "he was great. It was all poetry, very heady, and he was never faithful. He thought poets had a duty to be unfaithful."[7]

She applied to the University of Liverpool to be near Henri, and began a philosophy degree there in 1974. She had 2 plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse, wrote a pamphlet, Fifth Last Song, and received an honours degree in philosophy in 1977.[4] She worked as poetry critic for The Guardian from 1988–1989, and was editor of the poetry magazine, Ambit. In 1996, she was appointed as a lecturer in poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and later became creative director of its Writing School.[3]

Duffy was almost appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1999 after the death of Ted Hughes, but lost out on the position to Andrew Motion. Duffy said she would not have accepted the position at that time anyway, because she was in a relationship with Scottish poet Jackie Kay, had a young daughter, and would not have welcomed the public attention.[8] She was appointed as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009,[9] when Motion's 10-year term was over. Duffy was featured on the South Bank Show with Melvyn Bragg in December 2009 [10] and on 7 December she presented the Turner Prize to artist Richard Wright.[11]

Poet laureate[]

In her debut poem as poet laureate, Duffy tackled the scandal over British MPs expenses in the format of a sonnet.[12] Her next poem, "Last Post", was commissioned by the BBC to mark the deaths of Henry Allingham and Harry Patch, the last 2 British soldiers to fight in World War I.[13] Her 3rd, "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009", addressed current events such as species extinction, the climate change conference in Copenhagen, the banking crisis, and the war in Afghanistan.[14] In March 2010, she wrote "Achilles (for David Beckham)" about the Achilles tendon injury that left England Footballer David Beckham out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup; the poem was published in The Daily Mirror and treats modern celebrity culture as a kind of mythicisation.[15] "Silver Lining", written in April 2010, acknowledges the grounding of flights caused by the ash of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull.[16] On August the 30th 2010 she premièred her poem "Vigil" for the Manchester Pride Candlelight Vigil in memory of LGBT people who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS.[17]

Duffy wrote a 46 line poem Rings for the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The poem celebrates the rings found in nature and does not specifically mention the couple's names. It begins for both to say and continues "I might have raised your hand to the sky / to give you the ring surrounding the moon / or looked to twin the rings of your eyes / with mine / or added a ring to the rings of a tree / by forming a handheld circle with you, thee, / ...". She wrote the verse with Stephen Raw, a textual artist, and a signed print of the work was sent to the couple as a wedding gift.[18][19]

In a Stylist magazine,[20] Duffy said of becoming poet laureate "There’s no requirement. I do get asked to do things and so far I’ve been happy to do them." She also spoke about being selected for the role by the Queen, saying, "She’s lovely! I met her before I became poet laureate but when I was appointed I had an ‘audience’ with her which meant we were alone, at the palace, for the first time. We chatted about poetry. Her mother was friends with Ted Hughes whose poetry I admire a lot. We spoke about his influence on me."[20]

Writing[]

Poetry[]

Duffy's work explores both everyday experience and the rich fantasy life of herself and others. In dramatising scenes from childhood, adolescence, and adult life, she discovers moments of consolation through love, memory, and language. Charlotte Mendelson writes in The Observer:

Part of Duffy's talent – besides her ear for ordinary eloquence, her gorgeous, powerful, throwaway lines, her subtlety – is her ventriloquism. Like the best of her novelist peers ... she slides in and out of her characters' lives on a stream of possessions, aspirations, idioms and turns of phrase. However, she is also a time-traveller and a shape-shifter, gliding from Troy to Hollywood, galaxies to intestines, sloughed-off skin to department stores while other poets make heavy weather of one kiss, one kick, one letter ... from verbal nuances to mind-expanding imaginative leaps, her words seem freshly plucked from the minds of non-poets – that is, she makes it look easy.[21]

Of her own writing, Duffy has said, "I'm not interested, as a poet, in words like 'plash'—Seamus Heaney words, interesting words. I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way."[4] She told The Observer: "Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning."[22]

Duffy rose to greater prominence in UK poetry circles after her poem "Whoever She Was" won the Poetry Society National Poetry Competition in 1983.[23] In her first collection, Standing Female Nude (1985), she uses the voices of outsiders, for example in the poems 'Education for Leisure' and 'Dear Norman'. Her next collection Feminine Gospels (2002) continues this vein, showing an increased interest in long narrative poems, accessible in style and often surreal in their imagery. Her 2005 publication, Rapture (2005), is a series of intimate poems charting the course of a love affair, for which she won the £10,000 T.S. Eliot Prize. In 2007, she published The Hat, a collection of poems for children. Online copies of her poems are rare, but her poem dedicated to U A Fanthorpe, Premonitions, is available through The Guardian,[24] and several others via The Daily Mirror.[25][26]

In schools[]

Her poems are studied in British schools at GCSE, A-level, and Higher levels.[27] In August 2008, her Education for Leisure, a poem about violence, was removed from the AQA examination board's GCSE poetry anthology, following a complaint about its references to knife crime and a goldfish being flushed down a toilet. The poem begins, "Today I am going to kill something. Anything./I have had enough of being ignored and today/I am going to play God." The protagonist kills a fly, then a goldfish. The budgie panics and the cat hides. It ends with him, or her, leaving the house with a knife. "The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm."[28]

According to The Guardian, schools were urged to destroy copies of the unedited anthology.[28] Duffy called the decision ridiculous. "It's an anti-violence poem," she said. "It is a plea for education rather than violence." She responded with Mrs Schofield's GCSE, a poem about violence in other fiction, and the point of it. "Explain how poetry/pursues the human like the smitten moon/above the weeping, laughing earth ..."[29] The Mrs. Schofield of the title refers to Pat Schofield, an external examiner at Lutterworth College, Leicestershire, who complained about Education for Leisure, calling it "absolutely horrendous".[30]

Plays and songs[]

Duffy is also a playwright, and has had plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse and the Almeida Theatre in London. Her plays include Take My Husband (1982), Cavern of Dreams (1984), Little Women, Big Boys (1986) Loss (1986), Casanova (2007). Her radio credits include an adaptation of Rapture.[31] Her children's collections include Meeting Midnight (1999) and The Oldest Girl in the World (2000). She also collaborated with the Manchester composer, Sasha Johnson Manning, on The Manchester Carols, a series of Christmas songs that premiered in Manchester Cathedral in 2007. She will also be partaking in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six where she has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible[32]

Recognition[]

Duffy holds honorary doctorates from the University of Dundee, the University of Hull, the University of St Andrews, and the University of Warwick, as well as an Honorary Fellowship at Homerton College, Cambridge.[1][33]

  • 1983: National Poetry Competition 1st prize (for Whoever She Was)
  • 1983 Greenwich Poetry Competition ("for Words of Absolution")
  • 1984: Eric Gregory Award
  • 1986: Scottish Arts Council Book Award (for Standing Female Nude)
  • 1988: Somerset Maugham Award (for Selling Manhattan)
  • 1989: Dylan Thomas Prize
  • 1990: Scottish Arts Council Book Award (for The Other Country
  • 1992: Cholmondeley Award
  • 1993: Whitbread Awards (for Mean Time)
  • 1993: Scottish Arts Council Book Award (for Mean Time)
  • 1993: Forward Prize (for Mean Time)
  • 1995: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
  • 1995: Lannan Award
  • 1999: Signal Children's Poetry Prize
  • 2001: National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts Award
  • 2002: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
  • 2005: T.S. Eliot Prize (for Rapture)

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Fleshweathercock, and ther poems. Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England: Outposts, 1973.
  • Fifth Last Song. Wirral, Merseyside, England: Headland, 1982.
  • Standing Female Nude. London: Anvil, 1985.
  • Thrown Voices. London: Turret Books, 1986.
  • Selling Manhattan. London: Anvil, 1987.
  • The Other Country. London: Anvil, 1990.
  • Mean Time. London: Anvil, 1993.
  • Penguin Modern Poets 2 (by Eavan Boland, Carol Ann Duffy, & Vicki Feaver). London & New York: Penguin, 1995.[34]
  • Selected Poems.London: Penguin / Anvil, 1994.
  • The Pamphlet. London: Anvil, 1999.
  • The World's Wife. New York: Picador; London: Faber, 2000.
  • Rapture. New York: Picador, 2005.

Juvenile[]

Edited[]

  • Home and Away. Thamesdown, England: Souther Arts, 1988.
  • I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Anthology of women's poetry (illustrated by Trisha Rafferty). New York: Viking, 1992
    • also published as I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine: Poems for young feminists. New York: Holt, 1993.
  • Stopping for Death: Poems of death and loss (illustrated by Trisha Rafferty). New York: Holt, 1996.
  • (Adaptor) Grimm Tales (adapter). London: Faber, 1996.
  • Time's Tidings: Greeting the Twenty-first Century. London: Anvil, 1999.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.[35]

Plays[]

  • Take My Husband (2-act), produced in Liverpool, England, at Liverpool Playhouse, December 4, 1982.
  • Cavern of Dreams (2-act), produced in Liverpool at Liverpool Playhouse, August 3, 1984.
  • Loss (2-act), broadcast by BBC-Radio, July 22, 1986.
  • Little Women, Big Boys (1-act), produced in London, England, at Almeida Theatre, August 8, 1986.

Except where noted, information courtesy the Poetry Foundation.[35]

Audio / video[]

Carol_Ann_Duffy_reads_a_poem

Carol Ann Duffy reads a poem

  • Selected Poems, 1985-1993 (audiobook). London: Hachette Audio, 2006.[36]
  • Carol Ann Duffy: Reading from her own poems (CD). Stroud, UK: The Poetry Archive, 2009.[36]

See also[]

Preceded by
Andrew Motion 		Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
2009-2019 		Succeeded by
Simon Armitage

References[]

  • Michelis, Angelica and Antony Rowland (eds). The Poetry of Carol Ann Duffy: Choosing tough words. Manchester University Press, 2003.
  • Randolph, Jody. "Remembering Life before Thatcher: Selected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy." Women's Review of Books 12.8, May 1995.

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Manchester Metropolitan University, Profile: Professor Carol Ann Duffy, accessed November 2, 2009.
  2. ↑ Duffy reacts to new Laureate post, BBC News, 1 May 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Carol Ann Duffy, Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed November 2, 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Forbes, Peter. "Winning Lines", The Guardian, 31 August 2002.
  5. ↑ Edemariam, Aida. "Carol Ann Duffy: I don't have Ambassadorial Talents", The Guardian, 26 May 2009.
  6. ↑ BBC. Duffy's "Prayer"
  7. ↑ Winterson, Jeanette. "Carol Ann Duff", Jeanettewinterson.com, accessed 18 December 2009.
  8. ↑ Flood, Alison. "Betting closed on next poet laureate amid speculation that Carol Ann Duffy has been chosen", The Guardian, 27 April 2009.
  9. ↑ Lyall, Sarah (2 May 2009). "After 341 Years, British Poet Laureate Is a Woman". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/world/europe/02poet.html. Retrieved 2 May 2011. 
  10. ↑ Press Release, South Bank Show, 6 December 2009.
  11. ↑ Higgins, Charlotte. "Artist Richard Wright strikes gold as winner of this year's Turner prize", The Guardian, 7 December 2009.
  12. ↑ Politics by Carol Ann Duffy, The Guardian, 13 June 2009
  13. ↑ "Carol Ann Duffy, Poem for the last of WWI", Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, 30 July 2009.
  14. ↑ Duffy, Carol Ann. "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009", Radio Times, 6 December 2009.
  15. ↑ "Achilles (David Beckham)", The Guardian, 16th March 2010, accessed 2010-03-16.
  16. ↑ Duffy, Carol Ann. “Silver Lining | Carol Ann Duffy”, The Guardian, 20 April 2010.
  17. ↑ Manchester vigil. The Advocate 2010-08 -30.
  18. ↑ Harrison, David (23 April 2011). "Royal wedding: Poet laureate writes verse for big day". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8469503/Royal-wedding-Poet-laureate-writes-verse-for-big-day.html. Retrieved 30 April 2011. 
  19. ↑ "Poems for a wedding". The Guardian. 23 April 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/23/wedding-carol-ann-duffy-poetry. Retrieved 30 April 2011. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Interview: Carol Ann Duffy". http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/interviews-and-profiles/interview-carol-ann-duffy. Retrieved 4 October 2011. 
  21. ↑ Mendelson, Charlotte. The gospel truth, The Observer, 13 October 2002.
  22. ↑ Anderson, Hephzibah. Christmas Carol, The Observer, 4 December 2005.
  23. ↑ Carol Ann Duffy, The Poetry Society
  24. ↑ Premonitions The Guardian, 2 May 2009, accessed 2010-03-16.
  25. ↑ Duffy's poems for children, Daily Mirror, 4 May 2009 accessed 2010-03-16.
  26. ↑ A previously unpublished poem on the nature of her work, Daily Mirror, 2 May 2009, accessed 2010-03-16.
  27. ↑ Martin, Ben. "Carol Ann Duffy: Profile of the new Poet Laureate", The Daily Telegraph, 1 May 2009.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Curtis, Polly. "Top exam board asks schools to destroy book containing knife poem", The Guardian, 4 September 2008.
  29. ↑ Duffy, Carol Ann. Mrs Schofield's GCSE, The Guardian, 6 September 2009.
  30. ↑ Addley, Esther. "Poet's rhyming riposte leaves Mrs Schofield 'gobsmacked'", The Guardian, 6 September 2008.
  31. ↑ Radio play Rapture, performed by Fiona Shaw, with Eliana Tomkins, on BBC Radio Four on 24 July 2007.
  32. ↑ http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/
  33. ↑ http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2009-10/weekly/6160/section15.shtml#heading2-52
  34. ↑ Search results = au:Vicki Feaver, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 12, 2014.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Carol Ann Duffy b. 1955, Poetry Foundation, Web, Sep. 8, 2012.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Search results = Carol Ann Duffy + audiobook, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 18, 2015.

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