Duffy’s themes include language and the representation of reality; the construction of the self; gender issues;

contemporary culture; and many different forms of alienation, oppression and social inequality. She writes in
everyday, conversational language, making her poems appear deceptively simple. With this demotic style she
creates contemporary versions of traditional poetic forms - she makes frequent use of the dramatic monologue in
her exploration of different voices and different identities, and she also uses the sonnet form. Duffy is both serious
and humorous, often writing in a mischievous, playful style - in particular, she plays with words as she explores the
way in which meaning and reality are constructed through language. In this, her work has been linked to
postmodernism and poststructuralism, but this is a thematic influence rather than a stylistic one: consequently,
there is an interesting contrast between the postmodern content and the conservative forms.
Duffy's Style In her poems Carol Ann Duffy explores many subjects and themes including love, a female's
perspective of well-known legend, dream-like poems, other people and poems from her own experience. Some
poems with these themes include, 'Valentine', 'Mrs. Midas', 'Dream of a Lost Friend', 'War Photographer' and
'Originally'. Many of Duffy's poems are in a speaking voice (monologue). Some are humorous, some serious and
others are very realistic. The poet uses images and imagery, sensory and emotional writing to convey ideas. To
make the reader aware of an important part of the poem or to keep an idea with them, Duffy uses a variety of
sentence structures and different styles. She often uses narrators. A persona (which most of her poems are set in)
allows Duffy to express an idea from another point of view. The structure that she uses in her poems contains
regular stanzas and both internal and external rhyme.

 Stream of consciousness
 Mythological references
 Imagery
 Highly Descriptive Language
 Selected diction
 Gender