1. CW Mrs Beast Friday, 18 January 2019
Learning Outcomes
To be able to evaluate the way in which meanings are shaped in ‘Mrs Beast’ from ‘The World’s Wife’
To understand how Duffy uses the poem to explore ideas about Feminism

2. What is feminism? First Wave Feminism
Occurred during the 19th & 20th Century in the U.S and the U.K.
Fought for:
equal contract & property rights for women (US)
removing the ‘ownership’ of women (and children) by husbands (US)
But most importantly – WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE
- in UK the ‘Suffragettes’
- women over 30 with a house received the vote in 1918
- all women over 18 received the vote in 1928

3. Second Wave Feminism (- also merges Third Wave Feminism)
Early 60’s to late 80’s
- a continuation of the first wave, but incorporating issues of discrimination
e.g in the workplace and in society.
- wanted to break down ingrained patriarchal values of our societies (continuing idea)

4. Third Wave Feminism Started early 90’s
- ‘essentialist’ definitions of feminism begin to fracture between women due to considerations of:
Social class
Ideas of social gender conditioning (nature/nurture)
Race

5. Post-Feminism
The Backlash - a range of viewpoints and theories challenging Second Wave Feminism – i.e. ‘one size does not fit all’, ‘too generalised’

6. Mrs Beast
Arrange these words/phrases from the poem under headings of your choice:
Stinking wound
charming
dump
Fell to his knees
beast
Put them straight
Helen
bastards
blessed
myths
legends
Knowing my own mind
Prince
My own black horse
Cleopatra
Garbo
Queen of Sheba
Gold stashed
pretty
Fairy tales
Little Mermaid
agony
Mona Lisa
chuck
These are all words and phrases taken from the first two stanzas of the poem
Using these, the title and your knowledge of other Duffy poems, what predictions can you make about this poem?

7. Find one piece of evidence to support each statement
Read the Poem
Using your FIRST IMPRESSIONS, decide which of the following statements most accurately describes the poem and be prepared to explain why…
The poem is a hugely sad poem about a speaker who doesn’t want any more hurt and doesn’t want anyone else to be hurt by love.
The poem is a critique of the patriarchal oppression of the female voice.
The poem is a critique of self-serving feminists who cannot distinguish between power as domination and control over others and power that is creative and life-affirming.
The poem is a celebration of female solidarity in the face of male oppression.
Find one piece of evidence to support each statement

8. What Feminist Ideas can you find in the Poem?
Subverts gender roles
Praises women and their achievements
A history of struggle
Rejection of heterosexuality as ‘the norm’

9. WOMEN MENTIONED IN THE POEM
Make a list of all the women mentioned in the poem.
How many do you recognize?
What does each set of women (e.g. those in stanza 1, those in stanza 4, etc) represent?

10. WOMEN IN STANZA 1
Helen of Troy – fought over in the Greek myth, because of her beauty
Cleopatra – Egyptian queen; had relationships with various Roman leaders (cf. Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra)
Queen of Sheba – North African queen in the Bible
Juliet – from Romeo & Juliet
Nefertiti – wife of Egyptian pharaoh – name means ‘the beautiful one has arrived’
Mona Lisa – Leonardo da Vinci painting
Greta Garbo – famous (but reclusive) Hollywood film actress – 1920s/30s

11. Final words Reference to Auden poem ‘Let the more loving one be me’
Auden’s poem is about how it’s better to love and not be loved back, than not to love at all.
– What’s Duffy’s twist on the idea?

12. Duffy on Mrs Beast
So the poem is an elegy, and Mrs Beast—like Marilyn and Diana—is a hugely loving person: these women have loved with everything and been hurt. The last line of the poem—“Let the less-loving one be me”--is an echo of Auden’s poem where he says: “Let the more loving one be me”. But I think Mrs Beast doesn’t want any more hurt and she doesn’t want anyone to be hurt by love. I think it’s a hugely sad poem--“Mrs Beast”.

13. Annotate
Look for:
Verse form: line/stanza length, punctuation, caesura, enjambment
Language variation: colloquial, violent, coarse, romantic, cliché
Sounds: assonance, consonance, sibilance
Imagery
You have 10 minutes to annotate your stanza – you will then feed back to the class.
Stanza 1 – Maisie Stanza 2 – Joe Stanza 3 – Angeline Stanza 4 – Mrs Pearce Stanza 5 – Nathan Stanza 6 – Ben Stanza 7 - Ally

14. Finally
Now we have studied the poem in depth, write your own statement that best describes the poem. You may uses pieces from any of the statements below.
The poem is a hugely sad poem about a speaker who doesn’t want any more hurt and doesn’t want anyone else to be hurt by love.
The poem is a critique of the patriarchal oppression of the female voice.
The poem is a critique of self-serving feminists who cannot distinguish between power as domination and control over others and power that is creative and life-affirming.
The poem is a celebration of female solidarity in the face of male oppression.