The Laughter of Stafford Girls High

Question 1

Purpose

Answer 1

Birth of feminism

Women’s voices

Expectations of women

Power of women

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

Lacking a rhythm or rhyme scheme, sounds like a narrative.
Listing to show monotony
The poem is in the form of a mock-epic allegory.
A mock epic is a piece of writing which adopts the elevated heroic style of an epic poem for satirical reasons. It is irreverent and deliberately does not show the appropriate respect towards a serious institution.

The poem’s narrative is structured around the infectious laughter that builds into full scale rebellion against the teachers, closes the school and forces the teachers involved to search out their own dreams that they too have always repressed.
Middle Poem in collection – bridges together the overt feminism in the first half and the personal aspects of Duffy’s identity from the second half.

Question 3

Extra

Answer 3

The poem has been described as ‘an allegory of the rise of feminism, sweeping away dowdy post-war austerity and buttoned-up emotional sterility’.
The girls’ epidemic of laughter is an extended metaphor for feminism which disrupts the patriarchy. The laughter is a symbol of liberation and rebellion.
The grammar school and the teachers represent the old-fashioned patriarchal attitude.
The language of the poem focuses on the contrast between the old and the young.
Ultimately the status quo is subverted. After initial resistance, eventually the teachers too are liberated by the laughter.