Personal response:
I originally choose the poem Salome to do my blog/website on because when I first read it it intrigued me. I didn't know exactly what was going on. This was mainly because I had never read the bible about this story, and once I had the poem interested me even more. Duffy is extremely good at taking on the persona of Salome in this poem, but we do not know whether it is Salome until later in the poem.
I was keen on this poem at first because I did not understand it very much as I mentioned before. When I was learning about the story of Salome in the bible, and reading the verses I was even more keen on the poem, as Duffy tied the two together in a very smart manner. Without reading the bible verse I do not think I would have understood the poem one hundred per cent, this shows that it is always good to look at the context or the intertextual references used in a poem. If you do this I think that understanding the poem would be much easier and enjoying it too.
My favourite parts in the poem is when Duffy is giving us little hints that the man is dead. Firstly in the first stanza when she is talking about the reddish beard, crimson lips and saying his kiss was colder than a can. In the second stanza the use of the word batter and then in the third stanza the use of the word slaughter. Then finally at the end of the poem Duffy gives it up and confirms to us that he is dead when saying "Was his head on a platter."
I also enjoyed the colloquial language that Duffy used in her poem. The colloquial language I realised was very British as I had to explain to my partner what it was. In the Third stanza she said "Cut out the booze and the fags and the sex." The booze is the colloquial term for alcohol and fags is the colloquial term for cigarettes.
The poem also kept the audience engaged and was not boring. I loved annotating this poem as I kept finding more things to say, and I wasn't bored in the process. I think the poem was engaging because the poem kept moving it wouldn't stay on one topic for long. The mysteriousness of the poem also kept you reading as you wanted Duffy to confirm on whether this man was dead or not.
I was keen on this poem at first because I did not understand it very much as I mentioned before. When I was learning about the story of Salome in the bible, and reading the verses I was even more keen on the poem, as Duffy tied the two together in a very smart manner. Without reading the bible verse I do not think I would have understood the poem one hundred per cent, this shows that it is always good to look at the context or the intertextual references used in a poem. If you do this I think that understanding the poem would be much easier and enjoying it too.
My favourite parts in the poem is when Duffy is giving us little hints that the man is dead. Firstly in the first stanza when she is talking about the reddish beard, crimson lips and saying his kiss was colder than a can. In the second stanza the use of the word batter and then in the third stanza the use of the word slaughter. Then finally at the end of the poem Duffy gives it up and confirms to us that he is dead when saying "Was his head on a platter."
I also enjoyed the colloquial language that Duffy used in her poem. The colloquial language I realised was very British as I had to explain to my partner what it was. In the Third stanza she said "Cut out the booze and the fags and the sex." The booze is the colloquial term for alcohol and fags is the colloquial term for cigarettes.
The poem also kept the audience engaged and was not boring. I loved annotating this poem as I kept finding more things to say, and I wasn't bored in the process. I think the poem was engaging because the poem kept moving it wouldn't stay on one topic for long. The mysteriousness of the poem also kept you reading as you wanted Duffy to confirm on whether this man was dead or not.
Published on 18 May 2013
Author: Emily
Author: Emily