carrol anne duffy

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Carol Anne Duffy, born in Glasgow in 15, was favourite for Poet Laureate in 1 and many say that her failure to gain the accolade was mainly due to her outspokenness on issues such as feminism and lesbianism. Many of Duffy’s poems explore such themes and “Warming her Pearls” is one such poem, looking at obsessive love and class. Sir John Betjeman, born in 106 and Poet Laureate from 17, also uses these themes in “A Subaltern’s Love-song”.

While both poems are presented in dramatic monologue, with the lower class narrator telling of their deep desire for the higher classed object of their obsession, the styles used are different.

“A Subalterns Love-song” is made up of eleven 4 line stanzas and follows a structured rhyme scheme- a,a,b,b,c,c,a,a… While the “a” obviously begins the rhyme it is also dead centre and concludes the poem showing a clear pattern. In addition there is internal rhyme “Furnish’d and burnish’d”, “westering, questioning”, “mad I am,glad I am, sad that you won”. This gives the poem pace which increases as the desire becomes greater and a true feeling of love to the poem; with the rhyme giving a sense of desperation for the love to be returned.

In contrast “Warming her Pearls” is much shorter with six 4 line stanzas and no rhyme scheme. Instead Duffy uses enjambment effectively to set the more relaxed pace of the poem “All day I think of her, (new stanza) resting…” and “…naked into bed, the way (new stanza) she always does…”. Alliteration gives the feeling of sensuality and imagery in “wear them, warm them” and highlights the maids routine life with “whilst I work willingly” while sibilance in “soft blush seep through her skin” gives a somewhat desperate yet still sensual feeling.




“Warming Her Pearls” is the story, told by the maid, of the deep feelings she has towards her mistress. Whether the feelings be envy of her mistress, her wealth and life style or in fact a lesbian obsession. The maid is dressing her mistress in readiness for a ball and the poem opens with an ungrammatical sentence “Next to my own skin, her pearls”. This emphasises the “my” and “her pearls” and the maids desire for the pearls. It also gives a feeling of intimacy and closeness with the maid getting pleasure from the touch of her mistress’s pearls against her bare flesh. Sensuality and sexuality continue throughout the poem “wear them, warm them”, “my slow heat entering each pearl”, “…beautiful. I dream…picture her…”, “red lips” and “feel their absence and burn”. Obsession can be seen by the maid imagining her mistress dancing and puzzling over “my faint persistent scent”. The smell of the maid’s cheaper perfume on the dress that she has worn unknown to her mistress, whether it be in envy of her mistress or to feel the material that has been close to her mistress’s skin next to hers. Sexual ambiguity comes toward the end of the poem with “her slim hand reaching for the case, slipping naked into bed”. Is the maid imagining her mistress putting her pearls to bed in their case or, the more probable, her mistress slipping naked into bed? Similarly “I dream about her in my attic bed” can be questioned. Is the maid dreaming about her mistress while in bed or dreaming that her mistress is in her bed? The sensuality cools in the last stanza with the pearls cooling. This however intensifies the feeling of obsession when the poem ends “I burn”.

In contrast to the underlying messages and ambiguity “A Subaltern’s Love-song is more direct. The opening stanza clearly tells you that the narrator has a deep felt desire and love for the higher class “Miss J.Hunter Dunn” and wants to win her love “We in the tournament-you against me!”. The story tells of an evening spent by the couple where they play tennis and Betjeman is clear with the Subaltern’s feelings “Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy,” and “mad I am, sad I am, glad that you won”. The couple get ready for and then drive to the golf club dance. Once there they spend the evening sitting in the car, eventually getting engaged.

Although the themes of love and class are similar to those in “ Warming her Pearls” Betjeman’s poem is more innocent and builds a picture of peace and ease even though the narrator has a similar underlying tension. While Duffy’s lack of description of the mistress makes you imagine her as a picture of beauty and elegance, Betjeman builds a somewhat unusual image of the Subaltern’s object of desire” Furnish’d and burnish’d”- you would imagine to relate more to a room with polished metal and “the speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy” more amazon like than that of a beautiful young lady. Again Duffy concentrates more on the maid and her feelings towards her mistress while Betjeman gives imagery of the opulent surroundings “the verandah that welcomes”, “walls are be-trophied” and “”low lead windows”. The feeling of ease is given of the lazy summer’s night “The scent of the conifers”, “six o’clock news and a lime juice and gin” and the evocative “mushroomy, pine-woody, evergreen smells”.

While both poems deal with similar themes their styles and structures are very different. Duffy’s Warming her pearls” is ambiguous as to the true desire of the maids; leaving you wondering is there a deep lesbian love or simply a sense of envy at her mistresses’ life style and wealth. Betjeman is more direct and although the poem ends with the engagement of the Subaltern to Miss J. Hunter Dunn you are left wondering how much his love is returned.



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