21. North-West

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we explore the twentieth poem of the collection, ‘North-West’, focusing in particular on: (i) the themes of loss, grief, and regret for times gone by; (ii) Duffy’s use of language in the poem – “grieves”, “frets”, “tearful air”; (iii) the narrative arc of the collection as a whole, from the epic, howling laughter of ‘The Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High’ to the quieter, more intimate reflections on life and death in ‘The Cord’, ‘Wish’ and ‘North-West’.

Course

In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Carol Ann Duffy’s 2002 collection, ‘Feminine Gospels’. After an introductory module in which we think about the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy in general and the collection as a whole – and especially the implications of its title – the course continues with a reading and analysis of each of the twenty-one poems in the collection, one by one.

Lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.