Following a flurry of speculation over the past year, it has been confirmed that Carol Ann Duffy is the new Poet Laureate in the UK, succeeding Andrew Motion who has held the title for the last 10 years.
Aside from a mixed response from people who either loved or hated her frank and contemporary poetry at school, what is most notable about this appointment, is that despite some of poetry’s most important figures being women, she is the first ever woman to hold the title.
While this is certainly a cause for celebration, it also begs the question as to why a country that has produced poets including Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti has never had a female Poet Laureate before; give me a sexually voracious market dweller or an adored spaniel over a brooding, bearded mourner any day!
10 years ago, when the title was last up for grabs, Duffy was overlooked as a contender as it was thought that her open lesbianism would offend Middle-England, who can apparently only deal with a female poets if spouted from the overtly middle-class mouth of someone like Pam Ayres. Personally, I can’t think of anything more offensive than the clichéd Daily Mail style portrayal of the literary female that Ayres represents.
It is therefore both exciting and progressive that not only has the title finally been awarded to a woman, but to one who will not necessarily play it safe and keep her mouth shut!