by Kirstyn Smith
Last year, the AQA was moved to withdraw her poem Education for Leisure from the GCSE English exam, due to its supposed insinuations of knife crime. Her unashamed relationship with fellow writer Jackie Kay was allegedly considered by Tony Blair to be too unconventional for Middle England. An emotional and forthright poet, Carol Ann Duffy seems to court contention more than most.
The latest stanza in her eventful comedy of errors allows her to maintain her offbeat characterisation: Duffy is set to become the first woman Poet Laureate. For months there has been neck-and-neck competition between Ms Duffy and West Yorkshire poet Simon Armitage, but a report yesterday announced that the UK government have made their final decision.
An official announcement on Thursday will confirm that Duffy will follow in the footsteps of Andrew Motion who held the post for ten years – the only poet thus far not to take on the position for life. Yesterday Motion praised his likely successor saying:
“I would be profoundly pleased if Carol was to take on the role as I think she would be magnificently good at it. She’s an absolutely wonderful writer and I think that because no woman has had the role, having Carol would give the whole thing a great glamour and appeal.”
This year a new means of choosing who would fill the post, implemented by Andy Burnham the culture secretary, allowed for the general public to assume a more involved role in the process. Poetry lovers were invited to vote for their favourites by writing to ministers, while other authors and scholars were also asked for their contributions.
However, the role may not be welcomed with entirely open arms as would ordinarily be assumed. Ten years ago, before Motion took on the role, Duffy was also a candidate. Yet, representatives at Downing Street vetoed her from the position, the reason allegedly being that Middle English society were not ready to embrace her openly homosexual lifestyle. At the time, Duffy was said to be deeply bruised at the rejection, declaring herself ”out of the picture” regarding any future considerations for the post. She later maintained that she would not have taken on the post anyway, angrily stating:
“I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie. No self-respecting poet should have to.”
If Duffy was to change her mind about her views of the honour, it would be a turnaround to the fans who recognise her as a fearlessly controversial figure, unafraid to speak her mind. She hotly defended the removal of Education for Leisure from examinations, claiming it to be conducive to raising awareness of street crime. The poem contained lines such as:
Today I am going to kill something. Anything.
I have had enough of being ignored and today
I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day,
a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets
To counter the seeming overreaction to her poem, Duffy countered the decision to ban it by penning another poem, Mrs Schofield’s GCSE, in which knife-related incidents found in traditional GCSE fare, such as Shakespeare’s plays are highlighted:
Who said
Is this a dagger which I see? Which tragedy?
Whose blade was drawn which lead to Tybalt’s death?
By proving her point in such a waym she has garnered a number of supporters in her field. Poet and professor Robert Crawford describes her work as being “lively, lyrical, somewhat provocative, alert to poetry’s capacity even in the 21st century to have a significant public dimension.”
