
Now with extra laughs... - Ms Duffy is loved by readers even more than by the critics. She is wise, and she is clever. She is also very moving and extremely funny. This volume introduces us to Mrs Aesop, Mrs Darwin and even Mrs Faust and Mrs Quasimodo and so on...These are not poems meant for academic study, these are poems to be read and enjoyed. And they are very enjoyable, with sharp wit throughout.There are times in her more recent work when Duffy strikes me as the poet that Elizabeth Jennings was too frightened to be, here however CAD lets her hair down and unleashes a delight of barbs and sympathy.The only disappointment for me is The Kray Sisters, but then, I hate so called cockney rhyming slang. Stuff your lady Godivas up your Khyber pass .That minor gripe aside, this is another wonderful volume from one of our most popular poets, and even funnier than usual.
Poetry By Numbers - Carol Ann Duffy is one of the foremost poets in British Poetry in the twenty-first century. And therein lies the first of many problems I have with her. Academic concerns, such as mythology and history are all over this book, yet being an academic is not a prerequisite of being a poet.Her poetry here (and in everything else she s done) is trite, cliched, and gender-specific, whilst it also tries too hard to be funny. Being able to look up a few reference books to find information about various women throughout history does not a poet maketh.Besides which, the poetry itself is stilted, obscure, awkward, lazy, and badly written. Carol Ann Duffy treads the same path as just about every single other poet who is published in Britain today, they give the publishers exactly what the PUBLISHERS want, rather than actually writing poetry that more than a few individuals can relate to. But who are these arrogant individuals and what makes them qualified to judge what constitutes good poetry? I suspect that class plays a big part... The poetry business is full of nauseating back-slapping and sycophancy, despite the fact that the number of people actually buying poetry is at an all-time low. Wonder why?
Fantastic - I truly adore this owmna and the way she wites.She cuts to the quick with the emtions of some of her characters, especially with resentment, which features in a lot of her poems in this book.Take a close look at Delilah and Mrs Aesop, both absolutely extarordinary poems.
Brilliantly creative and entertaining - I loved this collection of poems, written from the perspective of real or imagined wives or other females connected to famous males from history, myth or fairy tale. There s a wonderful variety of tone, from Mrs Herod s raddled old rouée, waking up with John the Baptist s head in her morning-after-the-night-before bed, to Penelope, for whom Odysseus return is a tedious interruption to the world-making creativity of her weaving. The Kray Sisters, Pope Joan, Mrs Quasimodo - all are beautifully brought to life by Duffy s deft and imaginative strokes. By turns wistful, menacing, contemptuous or just weary of their men, Duffy s women give us a multifaceted glimpse into a world where women s ways of knowing and being displace men from the spotlight to the shadows. Brilliant.
My Favourite - I absolutely love this collection!!!! It consists mainly of the story behind male mythological figures in which Duffy inverts and presents herself as their wife or lover. Or simply female figures with an interesting tale. The brutal language and matter of fact tone make it perfect for female readers who are sick of men!!! A definite must!!!