The World's Wife: Poems

In "The World's Wife," Duffy deftly reworks tales from myths, fables, the bible, popular culture, literature and history. Some popular stories are reexamined through the eyes of a female witness, as with "Pilate's Wife," "Mrs. Darwin, " "Mrs. Sisyphus" and "Anne Hathaway." Others are modernized; In "Mrs. Faust," Faust and his wife are a pair of yuppies collecting degrees, computers and cell phones. A few stories, like "Queen Kong", are reimagined with a female protagonist replacing the male. The poetry is as diverse as the personae, with voices ranging from lingering, dreamy and dramatic to hard, clipped and succinct.The World's Wife lets previously unheard women speak. Their voices are not always what readers expect from a lyric speaker, for how often is deep emotion examined through rhyming slang for tits, or the nicknames for a penis? Yet when Duffy calls a modern wife frustrated by her husband's discovery of Viagra "Mrs. Rip Van Winkle," or a contemporary-voiced woman whose husband works mindlessly and ceaselessly "Mrs. Sisyphus," Duffy reveals that their personal struggles are not theirs alone. Their troubles have resonance, and echo through history, literature and myth---even though in the past it may have been left unspoken.

This book is the running definition of ‘female gaze’ in literature. Duffy takes stories like the raising of Lazarus, or the fall of Icarus, or even Shakespeare’s bestowment of his ‘second best bed’ to his wife, and retells them from a female perspective. In other poems, she transforms male-oriented stories to female: Pope Joan and Queen Kong being examples. And within this premise, she examines the one-sided puritanical attitudes of relationships, the demonization of female biology, and strikes at the literary patriarchy with humor and devastating seriousness. This is a lovely collection that wisely avoids striking the same note over and over but instead varies from control (ie, Eurydice WANTING Orpheus to turn and look and free her), to sexuality (Little Red Riding Hood as sexual awakening) to a dismay at the male animal (Sisyphus’s wife agog at her husband’s persistence). Quite the collection.

Carol Ann Duffy's poetry is provocative and entertaining.

IT's such a fun read, and Carol Ann has made it easy to think like a feminist and a poet. Great work.

I really liked this book by Duffy. She essentially takes tons of popular stories featuring a male lead/perspective and she tells the tale from a woman's perspective, most often the wife, in a poem structure. There is humor, there is suspense, there is sadness. It's a great collection of poems. I used this book in one of my college courses and I ended up really liking the whole book. It's a slim book so it's not too heavy and it's not too little either. I would definitely recommend this book.

As volumes of poetry go, The World's Wife is very tightly-themed: each poem is a monologue in the persona of a woman married (or otherwise attached) to a more famous man. The men are more usually from myth or fairy tale (Mrs Sisyphus, Mrs Beast) than from history, although five are biblical and one or two are from history as recent as the 1960s (I think The Devil's Wife may be a portrait of Myra Hindley). Duffy's approach to these monologues is almost absolutely consistent: the women express contempt, irritation, resentment and sorrow for the foolishness and egotism of their partners. Mrs Quasimodo desecrates her husband's beloved bells by fouling them with her own urine; both Penelope and Mrs Lazarus are discomfited by their husbands' return; Mrs Tiresias seeks solace in lesbianism. Only occasionally (as with Anne Hathaway) does the wife feel real love for her husband. The subject-matter, thus paraphrased, looks gloomy and bitter, but in fact these poems are entertaining and very likeable. It is quite important to these pieces that they are funny - and we do laugh because of the constantly-perceived clash between lofty, remote, sacred men and contemporary-sounding, slangy, immediate women. Duffy's language is exactly right for her project. Rhythmically it is strongly pulsing; even more important is the function of rhyme and half-rhyme (the latter perhaps this poet's single-most impressive talent). Reinforcing the wilful, aggressive quality of the rhetoric is Duffy's aptitude for witty puns involving cliches and hackneyed figures of speech (Eurydice is 'out of this world'). At the same time, however, the language is kept aerated and three-dimensional by beautiful off-the-cuff metaphors ('a snapdragon gargling a bee'). I think all this is extremely well-judged poetry; it is rich and confident and if it lacks subtlety, irony or mysteriousness, that is in the nature of its unusually rhetorical mission.

Everyone should read this. In fact, I wish I had been made to read it in school, although it would have had to have been grade 11 up to University level, as the themes are far too complex for most teenagers. Duffy's remarkable intelligence, wit and humanity is on full display here and you may need to look up a few stories as a refresher or learn something new altogether. This is a treasure.

I worship Carol Ann Duffy at this point

Bueno

I am enjoying the poetry in this book. A great variety of sadness, real life and humour. Am researching in depth the meaning being portrayed in each poem and listening to readings on you tube.

Just got this a couple days ago, it's in our programm in high school. Haven't analysed a lot of the poems yet, but the ones we have i definitely enjoyed very much. Very witty, original, and beautifully unique!! Demeter is probably my favorite.

This a great book. As the poet says, she wanted to add to the stories we all know and enjoy. And she has done this successfully.It is amusing and fascinating to read about how Eurydice feels when Orpheus comes to take her away from Hades. Or Delilah's backstoryto why she cut Samson's hair. The note from Mrs. Darwin to her husband is hilarious. And what Mrs. Icarus has to say about her husbandis something all women will relate with. It also fires up the imagination.Carol Ann Duffy is one of the most gifted and accessible poets. You should get this book. It's a great present, for yourself or for your loved ones.

The book was in excellent shape. The poems are very entertaining and beautifully written.