History

Question 1

What poem does “History” link to?

Answer 1

• The Map Woman.
• Woman’s skin is her story/here, women’s experiences = her story.

Question 2

Sig of title.

Answer 2

• HIS story.
• Poem provides HER story; female perspective of historical events. Critique of lack of this?

Question 3

“… woke up at last, alone, bones in a bed, not a tooth in her head, half dead….” Sig.

Answer 3

• “dead”/ “bed”: cross-rhyme.
• Commas accentuate isolation.
• “bones in bed”: alliteration; harsh reality of woman’s experience.

Question 4

Weakness/ neglect of personified “History” woman.

Answer 4

• “limped downstairs.”
• “rag of nightdress smelling of pee.”
• “pulled on coat” indoors –> no heating/ poverty.
• No health/ financial aid.
• Women’s perspectives in history been ignored?

Question 5

What role does woman play in this poem?

Answer 5

• History personified as this woman.
• “She was History”: declarative.

Question 6

Personified History’s bordemn/ complacency characterised.

Answer 6

• “slurped tea, stared”
• “dozed, snored.”
• “been there”: coloquialism –> been there, done that.
• Bored of men’s narrative of History?/

Question 7

Passiveness of personified female History.

Answer 7

• “been there,”
• “seen”/ “watched”/ “witnessed”/ “she’d heard.”
• Witnessed all of history but couldn’t do/ say anyhting to change it –> weakness of women in past.

Question 8

Religious events/ imagery “History” attended.

Answer 8

• “From the cross , his mother gasping…”
• “Jerusalem, Constantinpole, Sicily.”: all religious conflicts.
• “martyrs.”
• “basilicas”: special Catholic Church.
• Duffy Catholic upbringing –> also. “Virgin’s Memo.”

Question 9

Sig of description of witnessing “ease him down from Cross.”

Answer 9

• Crucifixion.
• ” his mother gasping for breath…. “
• Focussing on women in history rather than Jesus –> rewriting narrative.
• “soldiers spitting spears in earth”: Sibiliance –>Jesus combatting evil/ devil? Idea of destroying nature; link to “Work.”

Question 10

“She’d heard the last words of martyrs burnt at stake…” sig?

Answer 10

• Patron saint of women.
• Providing them with support in war/ listening to them.
• Link to: The Long Queen.

Question 11

Hitler Imagery.

Answer 11

• Sibilance: “seen”/ “spat”/ “strutting” –> devillish nature of Hitler.

Question 12

WW2 imagery.

Answer 12

• Evacuees: sent to protect next generation –> cycle of “History.”
• “children waved their little hands from trains.” Female perspective: this is what mothers saw –> children being taken away from them.

Question 13

Sig of “she woke again, cold, in the dark,”

Answer 13

• Cyclical structure to poem: just like History repeats itself.
• Enjamebement to next stanza –> continuation of History. Continuation of rejecting female perception of History/ female repression.

Question 14

Abusive/ violent imagery last stanza.

Answer 14

• “bricks through the window.”
• “grafitti sprayed.”
• “shit wrapped in a newspaper on the floor”: mistreatment of women’s narrative throughout history/ mistreatment of women.
• “shit”: modern vernacular, profanity, for past mistreatment.

Question 15

Critiquing?

Answer 15

• Mistreatment of women in history.
• Disregard of female perspective/ narrative throughot History.

Question 16

Purpose of last stanza?

Answer 16

• Shows humanity treats each other in abusive manner? Abusive towards women’s narrative/ general mistreatment of women?
• Abuse leads to war/ battles mentioned throughout.
• Poem = cyclical structure –> society never learns from “History.”

Question 17

Context.

Wars mentioned in poem.

Answer 17

• “Passchendaele”: WW1; infamous for number of casualties.
• “Bannockburn”: Scottish war of Indepdence
• Vietnam: being North and South.