Standing Female Nude

by Carol Ann Duffy

This outstanding first collection introduced Carol Ann Duffy's impressive gifts and the broad range of her interests and style. The poems are fresh, skilful, passionate. 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, Feminism, Female Authors, LGBT

64 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

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

[Felix · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carol Ann Duffy is probably one of the world's most highly regarded modern poets. And she's been recognized for that too, she's the British Poet Laureate. Her later collection The World's Wife is often regarded as a modern masterpiece. This earlier collection, Standing Female Nude is not quite so highly regarded. There are signs here of the greatness she would grow into (and some of these poems really are excellent), but in general it isn't of the same calibre as Duffy's mature work.

One poem that I had encountered briefly in another collection when I was in school, and found very curious, is $. I read it so many times when I was sat in the classroom and supposed to be doing something else. I couldn't make heads or tails of it for the longest time. Eventually I read some criticism on it on the internet, and I began to make sense of it. I'm still fond of it now. It was a real throwback to see it again. I doubt any adult reader would find it quite so curious as the young me did, but I've included it below, just in case.

$
A one a two a one two three four -
boogie woogie chou chou cha cha chatta
noogie. Woogie wop a loo bop a wop
bim bam. Da doo ron a doo ron oo wop a
sha na? Na na hey hey doo wah did.
Um, didy ay didy shala lala lala lala,
boogie woogie choo choo cha cha bop.
(a woogie wop a loo bam) yeah yeah yeah.

[Bookish Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some gorgeous, sumptuous, 5 star poems in here - Duffy is brilliant at imagining herself in other people's lives. But the majority of the poems in this collection didn't do it for me.

But I would take out the gems and cherish them because there are beautiful words in here!

[Samir Rawas Sarayji · Rating 4 out of 5]

First acquaintance with Carol Ann Duffy... and one that doesn't disappoint. A wide range of poems, some brilliantly insightful and on par with today's troubled themes (despite their being published in 1985), some were abstract and came across as word play. With the exception of the few awkward poems, a really good collection.

[Hannah Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffy's slightly hit or miss debut poetry collection which I picked up because:
1) I love Carol Ann Duffy, and
2) the art on the front looks a bit like the Miss Bentham painting in the Barber and I miss her

4 stars for cunnilingus.

[Peach Radvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with alot of the others that not every poem was great, but there were enough that made me feel something strongly enough to bookmark or tear up or sounded lovely enough when spoken out loud that for me it still has to be a 4 star read.

[Lea Dokter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duffy has definitely come far since this collection. Standing Female Nude is my lesst favourite collection of hers, although it was still higly enjoyable and definitely contained some amazing poems.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good - obvs depends which poem you look at by my faves were obviously standing female nude and the clear note which follows three generations of women.
Obviously war photographer is amazing but just reminds me of gcse.
Very poignant about relationships between men and women and dead relationships.
The issue with finishing a poetry collection before you’ve bought it in waterstones cafe is there is no need to buy it cos you’ve read it all already? But then the cover is beautiful that you also need it. currently conflicted, £10 is a lot for a book i’ve read for only a few poems i’d reread but the cover is naked women so i’m torn

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think what's wonderful about this as a collection is the pace and the contrast in each poem, it never gets dull. I really love the order of the poems; it can go from witty to bitter and sarcastic to shocking and heartbreaking all within a few pages.
The poem that has struck me the most is certainly Lizzie, Six. It's near the beginning and yet haunted me to the end (and even now). It reminded me so much of Lolita; the abuser twisting the words of the child. It's set out to be reminiscent of a children's story - similar to 'guess how much I love you' and other young children's stories - suggesting not just that it is a child in the poem but a young child, making it all the more haunting.
I enjoyed the whole collection, it made me laugh, it made me smile, it made me angry, it made me unsettled, it made me care.

[Sati Whalien52]

Talent
This is the word tightrope. Now imagine
a man, inching across it in the space
between our thoughts. He holds our breath.
There is no word net.
You want him to fall, don’t you?
I guessed as much; he teeters but succeeds.
The word applause is written all over him.

[Sylvia Clare · Rating 4 out of 5]

mostly loved them, some wonderful imagery and some strong emotions here too - not sure liked quite so much misandry but we both also totally got what she meant by it too. Definitely worth reading and spending pondering time with though

[Lil Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and thought provoking

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technically 4.5/5*

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievable talent-levels were there right from the beginning. Virtuoso work.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Ann Duffy’s first collection of poetry still packs a punch today. Thought provoking throughout and dark at times it’s an excellent introduction to her work.

[Hattie Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her later works but a good collection. Mt favourites were alliance, a clear note and you jane

Wonderful commentary on heteronormative relationships and the English standard

[Irina Bordogna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5⭐

[Olivia-Amy Turton · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell this is Carol Ann Duffy’s first volume of work. There are strokes of genius but it’s nowhere near as engaging as Rapture.

‘A Healthy Meal’ was a highlight.

[J Grimsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting collection of Poems, I must read them again.

[Gavin Lightfoot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great "real life" poems in this collection, written in the 80s but just as poignant today.

[Zoë Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had my introduction to Carol Ann Duffy this past February in Scotland when I read Love Poems which my friend Laala had a copy of. Unfortunately, she's not nearly as popular in Canada so the only book of hers I was able to track down was her first poetry collection Standing Female Nude. While first collections are often interesting in order to see how a poet has developed, they don't always the same power of a later work (one strong exception I can think of right away is Satan Says by Sharon Olds, but as a rule this what I have found). That said, Standing Female Nude is not a bad collection, although it does have some flaws.

Some poems in Standing Female Nude such as "Comprehensive" and "Jealous as Hell" are very abrupt and disconnected; she definitely hasn't quite perfected the sharp language that marks her writing in later collections. "Alphabet for Auden" even rhymes, and although it is possible to use rhyming a sophisticated way (like Plath) this is not the case. There were also a few poems I just... didn't understand, like "Dreaming of Somewhere Else" and "$".

However there are beautiful poems. "Saying Something" could easily fit into Love Poems:

Sweetheart, I say. Pedestrian daylight terms scratch
darker surfaces. Your absence leaves me with the ghost
of love; half-warm coffee cups or sheets, the gentlest kiss.

I also loved "Till Our Face" ('The planets abandon us'), "Letters from Deadmen" and "Free Will":

Once, when small, she sliced a worm in half,
gazing as it twinned beneath the knife.
What she parted would not die despite
the cut, remained inside her all her life.

Overall, the book lacks consistency and although it provides an interesting look at the first published works of a great poet the best poems could likely be found in a latter collected works. I'd recommend you read that instead.
***

[Jack Deighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A reprint of what is stated to be Poet Laureate Duffy’s first collection but both Wiki and Fantastic Fiction have it otherwise. The slim volume contains 49 poems. A few are only 7 or 8 lines long, most are of longer length, some are sonnets and employ that most passé of poetic devices, rhyme. Much of Duffy’s verse here tells stories. Several deal with unsympathetic husbands.

This is a strong assortment of poems with the most memorable including Lizzie, Six which seems to be about child abuse, while Ash Wednesday, 1984 employs rhyme to emphatic effect in imploring parents not to subject their children to religion, Jealous as Hell uses unusual stripped-down syntax and grammar to help make its point, Terza Rima SW19 varies from classic terza rima rhyming but does so to good effect, Where We Came In is a modern take on La Ronde with divorcees meeting up complete with new spouses, Free Will dwells on the lingering effects of an abortion, A Clear Note’s three sections tell a story of three generations of women. The title poem examines the distance between an artist and his sitter, What Price? is about The Hitler Diaries and those who thought to make money from them, Borrowed Memory the reality of incidents in novels to some people’s sense of themselves, while Shooting Stars is a plea not to forget atrocities.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read many of these poems before, except that I'd seen them in the collected poems. "War Photographer" hits hard, and is one of the first poems I'd read by her. So many of these poems have excellent lines or lovely imagery, though, it's so hard to pick favourites.

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3-4 rating, it varied based on the poem. My favorites were Education For Leisure, Free Will, Where We Came In and You Jane.

[Molly Miltenberger · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few of the poems and more of the individual images are striking and brilliant. Dialogue and dialect, seriously? thumbs down.

[scarlettraces · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here you need to picture that gif of Sailor Moon with the hearts for eyes.