Open Box – Poetry quotation of the day

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Goff James

Carol Ann Duffy rose to fame in the UK after winning Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition (1983) for her poem ‘Whoever She was’. Carol Ann Duffy is the first female poet to be appointed to the position of poet laureate.

She wrote a poem after becoming poet laureate regarding a scandal faced by the British MPs expenses.

Her second poem was called ‘Last Post’ and it was used by BBC to commemorate the last two British soldiers to have fought in the First World War; namely Henry Allingham and Harry Patch.

‘The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009’ was her third poem in which she tackles various issues such as extinction of species, the conference held in Copenhagen regarding climate change, the crisis in the banking sector and the Afghanistan War.

Duffy’s poem ‘Achilles’ was written for the footballer David Beckham, after he could not participate in the FIFA world cup of 2010. The poem described the modern day celebrity culture as a ‘mythicisation’. She also gifted her poem ‘Rings’ to Prince William and Catherine Middleton for their wedding in 2011.

As a Playwright Duffy has written several plays including ‘Take My Husband’ (1982), ‘Cavern of Dreams’ (1984), ‘Little Women, Big Boys’ (1986), ‘Loss’ (1986) and ‘Casanova’ (2007). She has also written poetry for children such as ‘Meeting Midnight’ (1999) and ‘The Oldest Girl in the World’ (2000). Her recent children’s’ books also include ‘The Lost Happy Endings’ (2006), ‘The Tear Thief’ (2007) and ‘The Princess Blankets’ (2009).

Her collection of poems titled ‘Standing Female Nude’ published in 1985 received the ‘Scottish Arts Council Award’. ‘Selling Manhattan’ (1987) won the ‘Somerset Maugham Award’ and ‘Mean Time’ published in 1993 was awarded the ‘Whitbread Poetry Award’. ‘Rapture’, her 2005 offering got the ‘T.S Elliot Prize’. Her poems deal with many social issues like gender, violence and tyranny.

Books by Carol Ann Duffy