Selling Manhattan

by Carol Ann Duffy

The poems in Carol Ann Duffy's highly praised second collection range from the dramatic monologues for which she is noted to love poems, which she writes, Robert Nye remarked, as if she were the first to do so'. Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow in 1955. Her awards include first prize in the 1983 National Poetry Competition; three Scottish Arts Council Book Awards; Eric Gregory, Somerset Maugham and Dylan Thomas Awards in Britain and a 1995 Lannan Literary Award in the USA. In 1993 she received the Forward Poetry Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award for her acclaimed fourth collection Mean Time . On May 1, 2009 she was named the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.

Genres: Poetry, Female Authors, LGBT

64 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1987

About the author

Dame Carol Ann Duffy, DBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's Poet Laureate in May 2009.

She is the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly LGBT person to hold this position.

Her collections include Standing Female Nude (1985), winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award; Selling Manhattan (1987), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; Mean Time (1993), which won the Whitbread Poetry Award; and Rapture (2005), winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Her poems address issues such as oppression, gender, and violence, in an accessible language that has made them popular in schools.

Reviews

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ordinarily I love Duffy's work, but Selling Manhattan just didn't grab me. It is her second collection, and one can see that her voice, which later becomes so original and startling, is beginning to emerge. There simply wasn't the level of engagement here which I am so used to in Duffy's work. There is much playing around with the form, but it feels more of an experimental collection than one of her best.

[Bekah Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of those poetry collections that made me feel incredibly stupid. I had no idea what was going on. I understood (maybe) two of the poems in the collection. I didn't even enjoy the style/writing of the pieces - sometimes when I don't understand poetry I still enjoy the flow/rhythm.

Wouldn't suggest this collection to any of my friends if they wanted poetry to read, it doesn't stand out to me, which is disappointing, as I was looking forward to reading this collection.

[Eilif · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back half of this collection really hits.
And 10 years later still adore “Warming Her Pearls” what a poem!

[Sophia Svinos · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m so tempted to rate this higher purely because the last 5 poems were some of the best I’ve ever read

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is an example from the book:

Warming Her Pearls
BY CAROL ANN DUFFY

for Judith Radstone

Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress
bids me wear them, warm them, until evening
when I'll brush her hair. At six, I place them
round her cool, white throat. All day I think of her,

resting in the Yellow Room, contemplating silk
or taffeta, which gown tonight? She fans herself
whilst I work willingly, my slow heat entering
each pearl. Slack on my neck, her rope.

She's beautiful. I dream about her
in my attic bed; picture her dancing
with tall men, puzzled by my faint, persistent scent
beneath her French perfume, her milky stones.

I dust her shoulders with a rabbit's foot,
watch the soft blush seep through her skin
like an indolent sigh. In her looking-glass
my red lips part as though I want to speak.

Full moon. Her carriage brings her home. I see
her every movement in my head.... Undressing,
taking off her jewels, her slim hand reaching
for the case, slipping naked into bed, the way

she always does.... And I lie here awake,
knowing the pearls are cooling even now
in the room where my mistress sleeps. All night
I feel their absence and I burn.



Her Bio:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poet...

[Aria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 1.5 stars

Also on Snow White Hates Apples.

As I searched for the writings of different poets to explore, I chanced upon Carol Ann Duffy’s second collection of poems so after falling in love with the first poem in Selling Manhattan , I bought the book and went home to read the rest in comfort. Sadly, this entire collection may have been the wrong one for me to start with.

Selling Manhattan mainly explores emotions of yearning, love and protest through free verse that feels more experimental than concrete — and that’s the most I could glean from this collection. Although I could appreciate the cleverness of the poems, 90% still went over my head. Typically, when this happens, I switch my focus to the rhythm of the poems because that’s something I always enjoy no matter if I understood the poem or not. But again, sadly, strong rhythms are not what Duffy’s poems here are armed to the teeth with.

Thus, the only thing I could do while reading this collection was to try harder to understand them and their intended, implied and/or underlying meanings. I ended up having to Google so much made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the poems and feel the emotions they hold. Of course, this is no fault of the poet’s. I just wasn’t equipped with the right contexts to fully appreciate the meanings Duffy’s poems hold here.

Nevertheless, the few poems I understood did stir my heart and they are:
– Practising Being Dead
– Yes, Officer
– Foreign
– Warming Her Pearls
– Plainsong

[Emma-Louise Ekpo · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read these poems all I could feel was the theme of yearning throughout. Yearning in both a positive and negative sense.

The lesbian yearning poems are a particular favourite of mine, I would recommend ‘Correspondents” (pg.45) and ‘Warming her pearls’ (pg.54). These poems are simply the feeling of yearning only someone queer would understand. I am struck by the erotic nature of these poems which overwhelms me with emotion.

The collection as a whole can read somewhat clunky in parts, with some poems connecting to others further in than what is on the page next to it. But this does not take away from the excellence that is Carol Ann Duffy.

A must read for any young queer women!

[Peter Longden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Friday 23 August 2024
#thesealeychallenge
Day 23
Selling Manhattan by Carol Ann Duffy
There are so many notable poems in this collection which are filled with humour, poignancy, sharp observations and comment such as found in ‘Politico’ in which she observes: “… Socialism? These days? There’s a tree that never grew…”
It is a marvellous collection and one, as observed by Vernon Scannell of Poetry Review, “… will repay many re-readings.”

[David]

I have discovered the latest author with whom I am tremendously grateful to be sharing a portion of the planet and a fragment of the calendar. I have known a few of Duffy poems for years, but only this year, taking the time to read all of them. I am in awe.

[Chloe Metzger · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this I think it's a collection that has to be read a few times to fully understand it. In light of this, my rating might go up after I've read it again.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Eleana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagery is absolutely beautiful. Some of it admittedly goes over my head but I loved how graphic the wording is. My favourites were I Live Here Now, Homesick, Mouth, With Soap and Three Paintings

[J Grimsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not completely take to this book. I still would read it again though.

[Gabriela Oprea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I'm not smart enough for this book lol

maybe I'll like it more on a reread

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the beginning there was The Word, and close behind, The Censor, clacking a wooden tongue.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I prefer Duffy when she's exposing that brutal, vulnerable vein in her poetry - less of her archer 'character' pieces, of which there were quite a few in this collection. Definitely preferred the back half, which had more of the former, including the lovely 'Strange Place', 'Telephoning Home' and that classic of GCSE Poetry modules everywhere, 'Warming Her Pearls.'

Unsurprisingly, I was a glutton for the poem entitled 'Space, Space';

'Spaceships/float in nothing in the dark, searching for moons/to worship with their fish eyes. It must be love.'

Yup, I know that feel.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't my favourite Duffy collection -- I think that prize has to go to Rapture, so far -- but I love several of the poems in it a lot. I especially love the imagery in "Warming Her Pearls". I love the last line of that especially -- "All night/I feel their absence and burn" -- although it needs the rest of the poem to be truly meaningful.

[Astrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is nice. highlights: practising being dead, dies natalis, strange language in the night fog, recognition, and how are we today, statement, stealing*, mouth w/ soap, correspondents, telephoning home, lovesick*, by heart, warming her pearls, miles away*. my favourites were starred.

[Mills College Library]

821.914 D858s 1987

[Helen (they or he) · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is happening? Why did I read this book in the first place? So many questions et cetra et cetra.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first time reading Carol Ann Duffy's earlier work - this her second volume, I believe. The crafting here is impeccable, dramatic monologues, love poems, brain-twisters...she's an amazing talent. And this book must be brilliant, because I barely understood a word of it...