The Feminist Orchestra Bookclub discussion

Our first foray into feminist poetry - I will be interested to see what themes Carol Ann Duffy focuses on in this collection and how relevant her poetry is to today's feminism.

I am really looking forward to this book. I had always wanted to read poetry but always struggled with it. I could never connect to it and frequently didn't even understand what I was reading. Then I picked up The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy and she taught me to how to enjoy poetry. I was able to see the wit and intelligence in the poems and loved the way the placement of a few perfectly placed words could convey such an impact. My education in poetry is still very much a work in progress but I have since gone on to enjoy many other collections and every time I find a new poem that I connect with, I fall a little deeper in love with this art form.

Hi guys, it seems that my first read with a group will only be coming to me by the 3rd week of July.
I will catch up as soon as I can.

I really enjoyed Feminine Gospels and I 100% recommend it to people who are considering giving this one a go.

I almost gave this book 5 stars however there were a few poems that I didn't connect with so I settled with 4. But I liked nearly all of them and LOVED quite a few of them. I haven't read any poetry collections since I was in college and this was a great reintroduction. I borrowed it from the library but now I'm tempted to buy a copy, as I could see this being quite a special book for me. It was certainly the right book at the right time.

My favourites are probably The Map-Woman, Loud, White Writing, The Light Gatherer, Anon, and A Dreaming Week.

I'd also be interested to see if people have strong opinions on 'The Laughter of Stafford Girls' High' as it is such a different poem to the others and so much longer. Personally I enjoyed it, although I found that what I really enjoyed most was the potential and momentum of the middle of the poem more than the beginning or end.

Anna wrote: "I am really looking forward to this book. I had always wanted to read poetry but always struggled with it. I could never connect to it and frequently didn't even understand what I was reading. Then..."

Ooh I think I'll give The World's Wife a go too then! It sounds like you had a great experience with it.
I hope you both enjoy Feminine Gospels :)

I am currenly around 30% of the way through the collection, and am taking my time with it. I am really enjoying the poems so far, and it's great to finally read a collection of Duffy's as I've only ever read the odd poem here and there for school before!

I'm going to be starting tonight! Duffy is one of my favourite poets, and I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

I've just finished Duffy's Feminine Gospels - i honestly can't remember the last time I read a collection of poems.

I enjoyed the read and found myself thinking about the lives of many women: Queen Victoria, Marilyn Monroe a d Princess Diana.

I have finished this book of poems and with very few exceptions, I really enjoyed them. There were a few in particular that I loved, both because I loved the language but also because I felt I really understood them. I loved Beautiful and White Writing and History and The Light Gatherer. There were other poems that I didn't connect with as well but still found the flow of language was lovely. Then there was the poem called Tall which I just didn't get on any level (any enlightenment on this is welcome). I love the way she creates character in her poems and her bold forthright style. I'm so glad that I had a reason to read this collection.

I really loved this collection and gave it five stars. I haven't read Duffy since school and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed her poetry. I especially enjoyed The Diet, The Woman Who Shopped, and Work but I found all the poems extremely interesting. I thought The Woman Who Shopped was a really interesting comment on the objectification of women and how they are conditioned to purchase things to make themselves a commodity. That's how I read it anyway :P I definitely want to read more of Duffy's collections now!

I have to confess this one didn't live up to my hopes for it. Don't get me wrong I don't think it was bad my any means - Duffy is a fantastic writer and I've enjoyed many of her poems previously. The collection as a whole though just didn't inspire any strong emotions in me which is what I want from my poetry and this entirely to do with the subjectivity of poetry. The big long poem I enjoyed the concept off but it maybe went on a couple too many pages for me. I did really enjoy Beautiful and Work as well as a few others but I didn't fall in love with the collection as a whole. I've given it 3 stars.

I gave this book 3 stars. I thought some of the poems were too long for me.

Allie wrote: "I gave this book 3 stars. I thought some of the poems were too long for me."

Glad I wasn't just having a mean rating day ^_^

Completely agree with some of the sentiments already mentioned above. This was a 3star rating for me.

I loved a couple of the poems (especially the one about the girl with the map on her body - that resonated with me). But a lot of it felt surface level although beautifully written and she had some magical realism qualities which I enjoyed.

She's obviously a great writer though, so I'd be interested to try another of her collections.

I really enjoyed this collection and gave it 4 stars.

I think the epic Stafford Girls poem can be considered from different levels: an empowering female rebellion against an outdated education system which was solely to make "wives and mothers" and where everything is taught in lists with little freedom of thought; or is it an ironic plague of laughter - are they really amused or is it satirical given what we learn of adulthood and the sense of struggles of their teachers who have mental health issues, un-realised dreams and struggles with sexual identity!

I loved the Map-Woman one. Are our bodies kind of maps of our lives? Our scars and bruises, pregnancy changes, ageing changes, dieting changes...I felt like it was an analogy for how many women are not happy in their own skin and always want change, but that really we are what we are and if you took our skin away, we would loose our sense of who we are. Sorry is that a bit deep?

Also enjoyed History and how because women were oppressed, they were mainly the witnesses to evil happenings and were and still offen are unable to do anything about it.

I want to read more Duffy now as honestly could pass more comments on loads of these. Great poetry read :)

Didn't get the Virgin's Memo one though ... Anyone?

This was the first thing I read by Carol Ann Duffy and I really enjoyed many of the poems! My favourites were probably "The Map-Woman", "Beautiful" and "Tall" - they had very strong images!
I liked that other themes such as eating disorder, shopping addiction, industrialization etc. were also adressed and for me as a non-English-native it was easy and understandable to read :)

For some more in depth thoughts check out my spoilerfree video review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goV2p...