Reviews

Feminine Gospels: Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

fionab_16's review

inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

My favourite poems in this collection are the first three.

• The Long Queen
• The Map Woman
• Beautiful 

The Long Queen (excerpt)
The Long Queen couldn’t die.
Young when she bowed her head
for the cold weight of the crown, she’d looked
at the second son of the earl, the foreign prince,
the heir to the duke, the lord, the baronet, the count,
then taken Time for a husband. Long live the Queen.

What was she queen of? Women, girls,
spinsters and hags, matrons, wet nurses,
witches, widows, wives, mothers of all these.
Her word of law was in their bones, in the graft
of their hands, in the wild kicks of their dancing.
No girl born who wasn’t the Long Queen’s always child.

The Map - Woman (excerpt)
A woman’s skin was a map of the town
where she’d grown from a child.
When she went out, she covered it up
with a dress, with a shawl, with a hat,
with mitts or a muff, with leggings, trousers
or jeans, with an ankle-length cloak, hooded and fingertip-sleeved. But - birthmark, tattoo –
the A-Z street-map grew, a precise second skin,
broad if she binged, thin when she slimmed,
a précis of where to end or go back or begin.

Beautiful (excerpt)
She was born from an egg,
a daughter of the gods,
divinely fair, a pearl, drop-dead
gorgeous, beautiful, a peach,
a child of grace, a stunner, in her face
the starlike sorrows of immortal eyes.
Who looked there, loved.

jenmachin_'s review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

Just a brief review.

Another gorgeous poetry collection by Carol Ann Duffy. I loved 'Bees' too. As soon as I saw this collection I had to pick it up and I wasn't disappointed.

Not quite as good as 'Bees' in my opinion, but the poem 'The Laughter of Stafford Girls High' really brought up my rating and, although I initially found it intimidating in its length, I found it really beautiful.

 The message I got from it is that laughter is freeing, particularly women's laughter. The unity created by it helps them find themselves and achieve their goals. The female community uplifts and inspires them. The teachers initially try to repress it, upholding matriarchal values, but they too are influenced and find freedom. It also represents a beautiful queer relationship which I particularly enjoyed.

She describes laughter in the most poetic ways. My favourite was as 'a cauldron of noise' where 'the classroom came to the boil with a brothy mirth,' but I also loved how she describes it as 'like distant thunder, the opening chord of a storm.'

I also really enjoyed 'The Diet' which really touched on female beauty standards. A quick quote is "skipping breakfast, lunch, dinner, thinner". 

The others were also lovely, but these two really touched on me the most, and I highly recommend you checking them out! 

Overall I rated it 4.5⭐ out of 5!

violet20225's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

g_reader123's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

2.75

rosasouki's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

nick_jenkins's review against another edition

5.0

The long poem “The Laughter of Stafford Girls High” reminds me of the skewed perspective of a Ronald Dahl or a Shirley Jackson short story. It’s brilliant, and clever, and daring, and surprising. Duffy is such a supremely inventive poet—another comparison might be to her countrywoman Ali Smith, one of my favorite novelists.

isabellahughes's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

jdrosario_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

i felt a lot of the poems were similar in their themed, although there was a few i loved like the long queen, the map woman, the diet, the light gatherer, and death and the moon. 

hollyking96's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

notnotnoble's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75