Carol Ann Duffy

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1. Carol Ann Duffy – a contemporary poet Unbelievably talented and witty, her poetry became one of the most heard voices of our times Carol Ann Duffy the first female, Scottish Poet Laureate in the 400 year history. She combines tenderness and toughness, humour and lyricism, unconventional attitudes and conventional forms. It is what has won her a very wide audience of readers and listeners. She is a prominent figure in contemporary British poetry and apparently a secret to her poetry lies in the use of everyday English language as well as wicked sense of humour and clarity (IS 2). Sentences that she creates are ‘snappy’ , and despite the fact that her work seems to be fairly simple, she adequately addresses varied range of philosophical issues such as for example racism, immigration, domestic violence, and social disaffection as well as touches upon the complexities of love (Rees-Jones, 1999). Despite being only thirty three years of age, she already had two remarkable collections of poetry to her name. First “Standing Female Nude” which was published in 1985 and second “Selling Manhattan”, as well as two of her plays and remarkable pamphlet of verse. Carol Ann Duffy is rapidly recognizable as one of the most popular voices in contemporary British poetry (Thomas, 1988). She is a Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University as well as a first women, the first Scot to be appointed Britain’s poet laureate. 1.1 Biography Carol Ann Duffy was born in Gorbals (very poor part of Glasgow) on the 23 December 1955, as a first child of May and Frank Duffy. When Carol was six her parents moved to Strafford, England where her father worked as English Electric and managed Strafford Rangers Football Club in his free time. Carol attended Saint Austin’s RC Primary School (1962-1967) ST. Joseph’s Convent School (1967-1970) and then Strafford Girls’
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