Scribd
Upload
236 views2 pages

The Little Red Cap

The poem "The Little Red Cap" by Carol Ann Duffy depicts a young girl maturing into an independent woman who realizes the older man she was with, like Duffy's own husband, is holding her back. Through seven stanzas of free verse, Duffy uses devices like caesura and holophrases to show the girl gaining empowerment as she decides the wolf is not worthy of her and she could do better on her own. In the end, the red cap achieves independence by realizing she has the power over the wolf, silencing him as he had silenced her grandmother, representing Duffy's message that the mistreatment of women should not continue.

Uploaded by

Vidhyodh Lokuge
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
236 views2 pages

The Little Red Cap

The poem "The Little Red Cap" by Carol Ann Duffy depicts a young girl maturing into an independent woman who realizes the older man she was with, like Duffy's own husband, is holding her back. Through seven stanzas of free verse, Duffy uses devices like caesura and holophrases to show the girl gaining empowerment as she decides the wolf is not worthy of her and she could do better on her own. In the end, the red cap achieves independence by realizing she has the power over the wolf, silencing him as he had silenced her grandmother, representing Duffy's message that the mistreatment of women should not continue.

Uploaded by

Vidhyodh Lokuge
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

The Little Red Cap

“The Little Red Cap” is a poem by world-renowned poet Carol Ann Duffy. The poem’s
context is from Duffy’s life married to a man who was fifteen years older than her, Jackie
Kay. The poem depicts a young girl maturing into an independent woman who feels she is
being held back, similarly to how Duffy felt about her husband at the time. The little red cap
sleeps with the wolf and realizes he is not worthy of her and that she could do better.
Depicting her empowerment as a woman in today’s world.

The Little Red Cap is a seven stanza poem, containing six lines in each stanza. “The Little
Red Cap” does not have any particular set of rhymes. However, it speaks to the reader about
the red cap’s desire for more from the old wolf. It helps bridge a connection between the
character and the reader while also giving an insight on what the red cap sees through her
eyes. It is a free verse poem. Freedom to do whatever the poet desires. This might’ve been
done to express the oppression women have suffered throughout the years by men. The
enjambment, almost speech-like, helps to convey the intense sensation the red cap felt when
she planned his death.

Duffy does not hold back on stylistic devices. Not limiting herself to a set of principles to
follow by, but unleashing the built up feelings inside her into words. A caesura are breaks
between words. An example is in line thirteen “My first.Here’s why. Poetry”. The break
between the words divides them into a question and answer. Making it easier to visualize the
tone and understand what Duffy saw in poetry. The cuts also keep the natural flow of the
poem throughout. Second, holophrases. Holophrases are one word sentences that are sort of
mysteries to a new reader, but as they find out later on the picture becomes clear. In line
sixteen, “ eyes of owls” show the little privacy she had and the judgment she faced for being
a woman. She could not run from it because they would always follow her no matter what she
did. A short ,but demonstrating the cruel world we live in.

Duffy seems to be feminist, but not without reason. Although times have changed,
misogynistic and lustful men still dwell around today. These men find unsuspecting girls to
quench their sexual thirst for lovemaking. Women are still seen as objects even when they are
equals. Some men, not all, see them as inferior. This is one of the themes Duffy makes clear.
Whether you are born a man or a woman will determine your role in society. Maturing is also
a part of being any gender. It is the realization of letting go of your dark desires and twisted
dreams. The little red cap finally realizes that the wolf was never gonna suffice her. She was
in love then, but she has grown and learned that it wasn’t the right path. She had been
empowered by her hatred towards the wolf for eating her grandmother.The red cap had
finally become an equal woman, not a desperate little girl looking for affection.

In conclusion, red cap achieved independence when realizing she is not the inferior one.
Not only does she become the one in power , but she also builds up the courage to take him
down over the years that have passed. She silenced him like the wolf had silenced her poor
old grandmother. The mistreatment of females is no more. Duffy compressed all of the real
life struggles women encounter into a marvelous and intense poem.

You might also like