di Carol Ann Duffy
One of the leading poets in the U.K, whether she speaks of an urban world marked by violence and dispossession or of the fictitious world of women from the past, she has the rare ability to combine readable stories with a language which, through her frequent use of dramatic monologues and of a "person" voicing her own ideas, are original, gripping and immediately comprehensible. Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1955, the only daughter of Irish Catholic immigrants, in a thoroughly Labor environment. She grew up in Stafford, where she moved to hen she was a child. She later settled in Liverpool, where she graduated in Philosophy in 1977. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and teaches poetry at Manchester University. She is considered one of the leading modern poets in the U.K. and has received the title of CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for literary merits. She now lives in Manchester with her young daughter. She was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009.
Her main works include:
Standing Female Nude
Selling Manhattan
The Other Country
Mean Time
The World's Wife
The Oldest Girl in the World
Feminine Gospels
The Good Child's Guide to Rock N Roll
Duffy privileges monologues, usually dramatic monologues, where the silent listener may be represented by the reader himself. Her style of writing is witty, accessible and touching and her poems may be rough or tender depending on the theme; accordingly, her language may also be sweet or harsh, with the possible additional use of slang and colloquialisms from American films and street talk; they reveal great psychological insights
