Tall

Question 1

What is the main conceit of the poem?

Answer 1

Conceit surrounds the mutant metamorphosis of a woman gaining height beyond her control. Allusion to social mobility and Duffy’s own career

Question 2

What are the key language features of Tall?

Answer 2

• fairytale iconography
• religious imagery
• physical imagery f discomfort
• reference to 9/11
• asyndetic listing

Question 3

What are the key structural features of Tall?

Answer 3

• enjambment reflects growth of woman
• caesura of ‘Out.’ and ‘she cured no one’
• numbering of days ‘Day one’

Question 4

What quotes support the method of: * fairytale iconography?

Answer 4

‘she needed a turret’

Question 5

What quotes support the method of: * religious imagery?

Answer 5

‘like a christening gift’
‘knelt in the shower as if she were praying for rain’
‘local crowds swarmed round her feet, chanting;

Question 6

What quotes support the method of: * physical imagery of discomfort?

Answer 6

‘she bowed herself into a bar’
‘she saw a face, high in the mirror behind the top shelf. Herself’

Question 7

What quotes support the method of: * reference to 9/11?

Answer 7

‘she stooped low and caught their souls in her hands as they fell from the burning towers’