10. History

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we explore the ninth poem in the collection, ‘History’, a poem which, like the previous five, features a transformation, but this one slightly different from the last. In particular, we think about: (i) the transformation of the ‘I’ of the poem to the personification of history itself (“She was History”); (ii) the negativity of the history that is experienced in the poem (“the wars, the bloody crusades … the martyrs burnt at the stake”); (iii) the poem’s stunning ending.

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.