A New Historicist Reading Of Carol Ann Duffy’s Poetry

Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009 by British Queen,thus becoming the first female Poet Laureate in British history and ending the 341-year history of male domination of that position in Britain.It is no exaggeration to say that her being appointed to that position is,as such,a sort of subversion to the history of British poetry as well as a deconstruction to the binary opposition of male/female.In terms of perspectives of New Historicism,the circle of British poets tolerates and even fosters certain “subversion” so as to effectively and generally “contain” such challenges as those from the uprising and increasingly powerful feminist movement to the existing order.Duffy has won almost all the major awards in British poetry,with many of her poems being compulsory reading material in British elementary schools,middle schools and colleges of all levels,and she has been the hot spot in circle of literary critics as a well-deserved and widely-known Poet Laureate,Duffy.Therefore,as literary text,her poetry participates in the “circulation”,“negotiation” and “exchange” of social ideology and discourse,thus imposing influences upon the development of history and culture.Duffy’s poetry is close to life and concerned about the marginalized,suppressed or underprivileged “others”,the abused animals,the devastated nature and even the female characters from fairy tales,myth and history.In Duffy’s poetry,such objects of concern are represented or interpreted in a distinctive way,and in the representations and interpretations are studded many modern items,thus creating the juxtaposition and fusion of history and reality.Such phenomenon illustrates a belief held by new historicists that aesthetic representation demonstrates relationships of both market and society.The present thesis adopts new historical literary criticism as its research perspective,mainly utilizing “cultural poetics” of Stephen Greenblatt and “historicity of texts and textuality of history” of Louis Montrose.As for “cultural poetics” embodied by Duffy herself,the thesis conducts illustrations through four aspects,namely,Duffy’s life experiences,education experiences,individual identity and ethnic identity;as for “cultural poetics” embodied in Duffy’s poetry,the thesis demonstrates the interactions between Duffy’s poetry and other social texts,the conflicting discourses circulating in her poetry and the “subversion” and “containment” embodied in it;as for the “textuality of history” reflected in her poetry,the thesis interprets Duffy’s interpretations of historical accounts and ancient myths,and analyzes her representations of racial issues and marginalized groups;as for the “historicity” of Duffy’s poetry,the thesis analyzes the historical influences on the subject matters of Duffy’s poetry,as well as the influences of Duffy’s poetry on contemporary and future history.At present,concerning Duffy and her poetry,researchers home and abroad generally adopt the perspectives of feminism,or mainly focus on her artistic features and achievements,and no comprehensive research is conducted through perspectives of New Historicism.Therefore,it is both necessary and innovative to analyze Duffy,her poetry and social practices through perspectives of New Historicism.The present thesis is organized in three parts:Part one is introduction,which deals with the introduction of Duffy and her achievement in poetry,research conducted home and abroad at present and the motivation,methodology,objectives and organization of the present thesis.Part two is the main body,in which chapter one is a summary of the theories of New Historicism,including comparisons between New Historicism and its traditional counterpart,connotations of cultural poetics,historicity of texts and textuality of history,as well as the feasibility of New Historicism for the present thesis;chapter two analyses the “cultural poetics” embodied in Duffy’s experience and poetry,which includes her education,identity,literary career and social activities and reflects the interplay of history and culture,the circulation of power and discourse as well as the embodiment of “subversion” and “containment”;chapter three analyzes the “textuality of history” reflected in Duffy’s poetry,illustrating her interpretations and representations of both past and current history;meanwhile,it also analyzes “the historicity of texts” pertaining to Duffy’s poetry,demonstrating the historical influences on Duffy and her poetry,as well as the influences of Duffy’s activities and her poetry on present and future history.Part three is conclusion,which is a summary of the key points of the present thesis,namely,the interplay of history and literature embodied in Duffy’s poetry,the cultural poetics embodied in Duffy and her poetry,the textuality of past and present history represented in Duffy’s poetry,as well as the historicity of Duffy’s practices and her poetry.Meanwhile,it also points out the limitations of the thesis,and states the directions for further research.