The Laughter of Stafford Girls HIgh Flashcards
What is the main conceit of the poem?
The spread of laughter is an allegory for the rise of second-wave feminism. The societal patriarchal mechanisms are broken and reimagined through joy and freedom.
What are the key structural features of the poem?
-Mock epic form
-Centre of anthology- the hinge from the societal to the personal
What are the key language features of the poem?
- Water imagery
- Flower imagery
- Asyndetic listing
- Reclaimed feminine motifs
- Erotic imagery
- weather imagery
- eating imagery
What is the key context of The Laughter of Stafford Girls High?
- Duffy went to SGH (is she Carolann Clare?)
- SGH was a rigourously academic grammar school for girls, yet despite this pressure the girls were not expected to attain jobs other than secretaries, teachers etc.
- Jouissance- Helen Cixous’ concept of female joy and liberation
What quotes show the method of: Water imagery?
‘a babble, a gargle, a plash, a splash of a laugh’
What quotes show the method of: flower imagery?
‘flower of merriment’
‘full, open, blooming rose of her throat’
What quotes show the method of: asyndetic listing?
‘the rivers of England’
What quotes show the method of: reclaimed feminine motifs?
- “the moon was pinned like a monitor’s badge to the sky”
- “a cauldron of noise”
What quotes show the method of: erotic imagery?
‘kissed down down to the triangle’
What quotes show the method of: weather/ natural imagery?
‘Anarchy roared in her face like a tropical wind’
‘fell through the clouds with a girl in her arms’
‘a wild thought seeded itself into her head’
‘the sound was like distant thunder’
What quotes show the method of: eating imagery?
‘feasting on air’
Dr Bream stared…
Dr Bream stared from her hospital window over the fields’
