Carol Ann Duffy and Owen Sheers

Carol Ann Duffy's Feminine Gospels (2002) and Owen Sheers's Skirrid Hill (2005) are two of the most commonly studied contemporary poetry collections for AQA A-Level English Literature. Both poets explore questions of identity, the body, landscape, and memory — but they do so in strikingly different ways. This lesson provides detailed analysis of key poems from each collection and examines the thematic and formal connections between them.

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Carol Ann Duffy: Feminine Gospels (2002)

Context

Duffy was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009 — the first woman and the first openly gay person to hold the position. Feminine Gospels is a collection that reimagines women's lives, histories, and bodies through a mixture of myth, fairy tale, realism, and surrealism. The title itself is provocative: "gospels" are sacred texts, authoritative truths. Duffy's "feminine gospels" claim the same authority for women's experience.

Key Themes