'education education education' is a (infamous) quote from Tony Blair while
the only other politician quoted is Gordon Brown. This is a poem that has
appeared eight days after a neo-fascist party gained seats in a national
election (for the European parliament) which has never happened here before.
I'm not saying Duffy's a right-winger, I would suggest though the poem is
a-political in an unwittingly conservative way.
The poem was picked up by the morning news here, simultaneously with the
knighthoods, the news programmes treated it as 'strong stuff', expressing
dismay at the recent scandals of MPs making false claims for expenses, thing
is it doesn't say anything about that.
2009/6/13 Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> All the comments by you & Judy are interesting, Dave, but as you say, it's
> rather effective, & at least to an outsider seems directed equally at all
> politicians, especially in the lines about education. But I probably cant
> get the nuances way over here....
>
> I just think it's not bad (not saying it['s good) for a public poem as
> laureate; more focused, I guess I'd say, than I might have expected....
>
> Doug
>
> On 13-Jun-09, at 1:01 AM, David Bircumshaw wrote:
>
> H'm, Carol Ann Duffy's first poem as Laureate
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/12/politics-carol-ann-duffy-poem
>> <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/12/politics-carol-ann-duffy-
>> poem>and,
>> I write in all sincerity, congratulations to the outgoing tenant on his
>> knighthood, the verray parfait Sir Andrew, as well as to the previous
>> Professor of Poetry at Oxford, good Sir Christopher Ricks.
>>
>> A Toast, please.
>>
>>
>> --
>> David Bircumshaw
>> "Nothing can be done in the face
>> of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
>> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
>> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
>>
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>
> Latest book: Continuations, with Sheila E, Murphy
> (University of Alberta Press 2006)
>
> Is that the flesh made word
> or is that the flesh-made word?
>
> Fred Wah
>
--
David Bircumshaw
"Nothing can be done in the face
of ordinary unhappiness" - PP
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
|