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Carol Ann Duffy - Foreign

Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright who was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2009, making her the first woman, Scottish-born poet, and openly LGBT person to hold the position. She addresses issues like oppression, gender, and violence in her accessible poetry. Though raised Catholic, she is now an atheist, but her religious upbringing still influences her work. She is a professor of poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University and has won numerous awards for her collections of poetry.

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Stefano Michele Campetti
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555 views2 pages

Carol Ann Duffy - Foreign

Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright who was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2009, making her the first woman, Scottish-born poet, and openly LGBT person to hold the position. She addresses issues like oppression, gender, and violence in her accessible poetry. Though raised Catholic, she is now an atheist, but her religious upbringing still influences her work. She is a professor of poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University and has won numerous awards for her collections of poetry.

Uploaded by

Stefano Michele Campetti
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Carol Ann Duffy (1955-)

Dame Carol Ann Duffy is a poet and playwright. She was born
in Scotland and is a professor of contemporary poetry
at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was
appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009. She has since
resigned (2019). She is the first woman, the first Scottish-born
poet and the first known LGBT poet to hold the position.
Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and
violence in an accessible language that has made them popular
in schools. The author of numerous collections of poetry.
Raised in her parents' Roman Catholic faith, Duffy became an atheist when she was 15. However,
she has spoken of the influence her religious upbringing has had on her poetry, stating: "Poetry and
prayer are very similar.
Duffy holds honorary doctorates from four UK universities. Her poetry is studied in British schools
from IGCSE through to A Levels and higher. She has won more awards than one can mention.
“I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way.” She told The Observer:

The Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom is an honorary position


appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, currently on the
advice of the prime minister. The role does not entail any specific
duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for
significant national occasions.

Background to the poem:

 Many people migrate to first World Countries to find employment.


 The persona (speaker) is an immigrant from an impoverished country.
 Written in the second person.
 This person is still struggling to fit in to his/her new 'home' although they have lived there for 20
years already.
 Reads like a dramatic dialogue.
Foreign
CARO L A NN DU FFY

Imagine living in a strange, dark city for twenty years.


There are some dismal dwellings on the east side
and one of them is yours. On the landing, you hear
your foreign accent echo down the stairs. You think
5 in a language of your own and talk in theirs.

Then you are writing home. The voice in your head


recites the letter in a local dialect; behind that
is the sound of your mother singing to you,
10 all that time ago, and now you do not know
why your eyes are watering and what’s the word for this.

You use the public transport. Work. Sleep. Imagine one night
you saw a name for yourself sprayed in red
against a brick wall. A hate name. Red like blood.
It is snowing on the streets, under the neon lights,
15 as if this place were coming to bits before your eyes.

And in the delicatessen, from time to time, the coins


in your palm will not translate. Inarticulate,
because this is not home, you point at fruit. Imagine
that one of you says Me not know what these people mean.
20 It like they only go to bed and dream. Imagine that.

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