Rapture

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A modernised adaptation of Everyman by Duffy, with Chiwetel Ejiofor in the title role, was performed at the National Theatre from April to July 2015. This follows the course (or perhaps disintegration would be a better term) of a love affair - and is clearly massively, massively personal. Wouldn’t you love to know who this beloved is? From the poem “Name”, possibly a love poem to Marina Tsvetaeva (echoing “Poems for Blok”): The opening line is very short and this serves to highlight its importance. It acts almost like a prompt to a speaker who is giving a speech it announces what the following stanza will be about effectively. The second line and the narrator open up with a stunning oxymoron. This gives the reader a view of the narrator’s “torn-vision” of love. They describe the heart as being parched, this portrays the idea that the heart is thirsty, that it is longing for something that it just can’t have. This is a very dramatic way of describing the euphoric up-and-down feeling that a person gets when they are in love.

Lyall, Sarah (2 May 2009). "After 341 Years, British Poet Laureate Is a Woman". The New York Times . Retrieved 2 May 2011. Duffy was awarded an OBE in 1995 and a CBE seven years later. In 1999 she was tipped for the post of poet laureate, but lost out to Andrew Motion. The Sunday Times suggested that her sexuality may have been the deciding factor, with Tony Blair reportedly "worried about having a homosexual poet laureate because of how it might play in middle England". Duffy’s themes include language and the representation of reality; the construction of the self; gender issues; contemporary culture; and many different forms of alienation, oppression and social inequality. She writes in everyday, conversational language, making her poems appear deceptively simple. With this demotic style she creates contemporary versions of traditional poetic forms - she makes frequent use of the dramatic monologue in her exploration of different voices and different identities, and she also uses the sonnet form. Duffy is both serious and humorous, often writing in a mischievous, playful style - in particular, she plays with words as she explores the way in which meaning and reality are constructed through language. In this, her work has been linked to postmodernism and poststructuralism, but this is a thematic influence rather than a stylistic one: consequently, there is an interesting contrast between the postmodern content and the conservative forms.

Rapture is studied as part of the OCR (EMC) A-Level qualification in English Language and Literature, across schools and colleges in England. 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." [47] Since the early 1980’s, Duffy has also worked as a playwright, having had her plays Take My Husband (1982), Cavern of Dreams (1984), Little Women, Big Boys (1986), Loss (1986), and Casanova (2007) published and performed in various theatres. Flood, Alison (27 April 2009). "Betting closed on next poet laureate amid speculation that Carol Ann Duffy has been chosen". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009.

As we celebrate Carol Ann Duffy’s decade as Poet Laureate, Dr Mari Hughes-Edwards offers a response to the themes of love and loss in her work What Will You Do Now with the Gift of Your Life? by Stephen Raw. Assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. [51]a b c d e f g Forbes, Peter (31 August 2002). "Winning Lines". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 February 2013.