Feminine Gospels

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This could allow Duffy to represent ‘All Women’ within the poem, this being a metaphor to represent the female experience. Cleopatra died to a self-inflicted snake bite, Munroe to an overdose, and Diana to a car crash after being pursued by the ravenous press of England.

Throughout history, talented women have been denied recognition — by their husbands, because of the structure of society, because of their biological role as the bearers of children. The use of ‘dusk’, ‘moon’, and ‘smuggled’ play into the semantics of secrecy, Helen slipping away from her followers’ grasps. Duffy uses the figure as a symbol of women’s success, the huge expanse, both in time and global scope, of her reign being illustrated by supporting other women. The woman begins to try and escape the map, travelling around the world, and experiencing new cultures. Although in some cases, beauty seems like an advantage, Duffy suggests that it is what brings attention, and therefore downfall, to these women.Although nothing of the sort, the media enjoyed the idea that she was stupid, expanding this until it was the common perception of Marilyn Monroe. Yet, the colon could also represent how everything that Duffy does in her life that follows this moment in her response to the female exclusion from history. Duffy draws on the first English Epic poem, ‘The Faerie Queene’ by Edmund Spenser, who immortalized in the figure of ‘Gloriana’.

This could be a mechanism through which Duffy suggests that women always support women, especially in retaliation to the male gaze.

Caesura, a break or disruption within a line through punctuation, is used frequently within the poem. The use of asyndeton, the continual use of commas instead of connective words, across ‘prince, the heir to the duke, the lord, the baronet, the count’ further suggests that there are endless suitors for the queen. Duffy begins by focusing on the principle of marrying ‘Time’ instead of an actual husband, and Elizabeth focuses on ruling successfully instead of marriage and romance. The poem suggests that society's approach to beauty, and beauty standards, is incredibly unfair and controlling. In analyzing these two poems, it begins to look at subject matter, but a large part of what makes Duffy’s poetry important is the formatting and word choice.