h/w 2nd April 2022
Examine Duffy’s presentation of female suffering across time. You must write about at
least two poems in your answer.
Duffy presents suffering as an intrinsic part of the female experience due to patriarchal
societies that oppress women and their freedoms. She is critiquing this repression as she
argues that female experiences, achievements and potential has been unfairly constrained.
Moreover, Duffy does not just blame men for perpetuating female suffering as she argues
that women are complicit in the patriarchy as well. But she does offer hope as she argues
that the restrictive institutions within society are being deconstructed by female expression,
which is starting to remove some gender based barriers.
Duffy argues that female suffering is caused by patriarchal repression from institutions and
society. By demonstrating how the female experience is controlled she highlights the
systematic prejudices that cause women to suffer silently everyday. For example, in The
Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High (TLSGH) the school is an example of an institution that
controls and is an integral part of life. But Duffy demonstrates the failure of the school to truly
educate the girls through her use of lists, demonstrating the facts that the girls just have to
learn: ‘Brathay, Coquet, Crake, Dee … Wharfe’, ‘Allen, Clough, Duddon … Sprint’ and
‘Rawthey, Roeburn … Wash’. Duffy uses these lists to highlight the stifling nature of
education for women because the school wants them to become ‘the finest of England’s
daughters and mothers and wives’, all of which are fulfilling the stereotypical female roles. It
demonstrates that women are being educated for men and to be fit for the position society
has created for them, rather than educating them so they can be successful and innovative
people. Moreover, Duffy is demonstrating how women’s lives are shaped by their relations to
men, which arguably is a form of repression and hardship because they are not free to
express themselves. Duffy argues that this is a problem throughout history because the
female experience has been neglected, highlighting that women throughout the generations
have suffered the same repression and lack of autonomy. This can be seen through the
personification of female history in History. There is a disparity between what the personified
history has seen, representing female viewpoints and experiences, and how much value is
placed on these views and perspectives. Duffy demonstrates this by having three sections of
the poem with the beginning and end being in present time where she is suffering and the
middle section describing everything that she had witnessed. Personified history in the poem
is severely mistreated as there is ‘shit wrapped in a newspaper posted onto the floor’ and
she is in ‘the rag of her nightdress, smelling of pee’. The use of ‘shit’ at the end of the last
stanza is shocking and conveys Duffy’s anger at how women have suffered for a long time
and are still being repressed by the patriarchy. Duffy is highlighting how the accepted version
of history is through the perspective of the patriarchal male often white mainstream view and
that women and their experiences are ignored and repressed. This demonstrates how
women have suffered for centuries as they have been neglected as a result of misogyny.
Although Duffy is critiquing society for causing female suffering, she also argues that women
are complicit in the patriarchy and are partially responsible for their own suffering. Duffy
argues that women oppress other women, which in turn causes more female suffering, as
well as causing their own suffering. For example, in TLSGH the teachers attempt to repress
the students’ expression and voice as they call it ‘foolish behaviour’ and ask for ‘SILENCE’.
The laughter of the schoolgirls arguably is representative of their voice and expression of
themselves, a freeing and liberating force and the fact that the female teachers try to stop it
Examine Duffy’s presentation of female suffering across time. You must write about at
least two poems in your answer.
Duffy presents suffering as an intrinsic part of the female experience due to patriarchal
societies that oppress women and their freedoms. She is critiquing this repression as she
argues that female experiences, achievements and potential has been unfairly constrained.
Moreover, Duffy does not just blame men for perpetuating female suffering as she argues
that women are complicit in the patriarchy as well. But she does offer hope as she argues
that the restrictive institutions within society are being deconstructed by female expression,
which is starting to remove some gender based barriers.
Duffy argues that female suffering is caused by patriarchal repression from institutions and
society. By demonstrating how the female experience is controlled she highlights the
systematic prejudices that cause women to suffer silently everyday. For example, in The
Laughter of Stafford Girls’ High (TLSGH) the school is an example of an institution that
controls and is an integral part of life. But Duffy demonstrates the failure of the school to truly
educate the girls through her use of lists, demonstrating the facts that the girls just have to
learn: ‘Brathay, Coquet, Crake, Dee … Wharfe’, ‘Allen, Clough, Duddon … Sprint’ and
‘Rawthey, Roeburn … Wash’. Duffy uses these lists to highlight the stifling nature of
education for women because the school wants them to become ‘the finest of England’s
daughters and mothers and wives’, all of which are fulfilling the stereotypical female roles. It
demonstrates that women are being educated for men and to be fit for the position society
has created for them, rather than educating them so they can be successful and innovative
people. Moreover, Duffy is demonstrating how women’s lives are shaped by their relations to
men, which arguably is a form of repression and hardship because they are not free to
express themselves. Duffy argues that this is a problem throughout history because the
female experience has been neglected, highlighting that women throughout the generations
have suffered the same repression and lack of autonomy. This can be seen through the
personification of female history in History. There is a disparity between what the personified
history has seen, representing female viewpoints and experiences, and how much value is
placed on these views and perspectives. Duffy demonstrates this by having three sections of
the poem with the beginning and end being in present time where she is suffering and the
middle section describing everything that she had witnessed. Personified history in the poem
is severely mistreated as there is ‘shit wrapped in a newspaper posted onto the floor’ and
she is in ‘the rag of her nightdress, smelling of pee’. The use of ‘shit’ at the end of the last
stanza is shocking and conveys Duffy’s anger at how women have suffered for a long time
and are still being repressed by the patriarchy. Duffy is highlighting how the accepted version
of history is through the perspective of the patriarchal male often white mainstream view and
that women and their experiences are ignored and repressed. This demonstrates how
women have suffered for centuries as they have been neglected as a result of misogyny.
Although Duffy is critiquing society for causing female suffering, she also argues that women
are complicit in the patriarchy and are partially responsible for their own suffering. Duffy
argues that women oppress other women, which in turn causes more female suffering, as
well as causing their own suffering. For example, in TLSGH the teachers attempt to repress
the students’ expression and voice as they call it ‘foolish behaviour’ and ask for ‘SILENCE’.
The laughter of the schoolgirls arguably is representative of their voice and expression of
themselves, a freeing and liberating force and the fact that the female teachers try to stop it
