Yet, rather as the Long Queen - in the poem that opens this collection - rules over a female population of "wetnurses/witches, widows, wives, mothers of all these", Duffy too knows her constituency. This is exemplified by the subject matter of both poems separately that both deal with certain beauty standards, and the forceful nature in which women are expected to uphold those. Helen of Troy changes into Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe puts Sinatra on her record player before going off to sing "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy. I have read anything I can get my hands on since I was a small child, but have never really been able to get into poetry.

Women, girls, / spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses, / witches, widows, wives, mothers of all those’.In the famous Birthday line referenced above the line breaks perfectly mimic the way in which Monroe sang it, allowing the reader to begin to recollect even before the “Mr. Feminine Gospels then culminates in the longest poem titled “The Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High,” which truly takes everything that Duffy has put forth in the first half of the book in a true to life story in poem form.

How a person deals with the ever day situations in life helps to better understand a person as a whole. there will be poems you connect with, as i did, and there will be poems that you struggle to feel any emotion for despite their high quality, also as i did. When these two poems are considered together, it allows the reader to begin to connect to the poetry.

Some good poems that I felt I could identify with, but most of the collection I struggled to find any real interest in.

With that though, the relief is quickly destroyed by shame at the modern world’s pressures for even the everyday woman to look a certain way; much like “Beauty” dealt with famous figures. duffy is an exquisite poet but even the best of them, as she is, produce anthologies that mix on responses garnered. With each poem, the reader must relearn how to read, or at least take time to look at formatting not to miss the greater artistry present.The poems describe aspects of female identity, the differences between women and the similarities that unite them. As a way of understanding just how these women were viewed in their respective periods, and this examination of historic figures may not become evident until the reader’s knowledge corresponds with the writing. in stripping women bare of their layers, carol ann duffy centres her anthology feminine gospels on expanding upon the historical, the archetypal, the biblical, and the fantastical visions of female identity, often rewriting them as she sees fit. Not everything is this dark, but there’s this underlying sense of vulnerability echoing throughout the collection. Part of Duffy's talent -- besides her ear for ordinary eloquence, her gorgeous, powerful, throwaway lines, her subtlety -- is her ventriloquism .

Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. It teaches an odd, contemporary post-feminist courage; and perhaps that is the source of Duffy's huge popularity. Sports is an important consideration, as well as music; both of which there have been male and female seperation.From the sadness of Elizabeth I, looking back on her long and powerful but lonely life, to the travails of a woman whose work is literally never done as she continues to trawl the seas to feed her billion offspring, to a movingly lyrical reflection on the beauty of a growing child, Carol Ann Duffy explores in this volume the myriad components of women's lives and loves through the crystallizing prism of poetry. I was in awe when I read The Bees, and cheering for girl power when making my way through The World’s Wife. Together, they will challenge and entertain as they explore the fullness of the female condition through their author's unique poetic voice.