Poet Laureate delivers a real treat to Warwick audience

WHAT a coup for Warwick Words Festival to attract the country’s first female Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy to its opening night.

And what a treat it was for those lucky among us to get a ticket to see and listen to this talented writer read her own work.

‘Charismatic’ or ‘lively’ are not words I would choose to describe Duffy, whose earlier poems left a lasting impression on me when I studied them, along with thousands of others of my generation, as part of my GCSE English literature syllabus.

But she certainly has great presence. There is something about her subtly expressive voice that makes the experience of listening to her recite rather special.

And though I would not say she is imposing, she has a mannerism which makes you feel she has the control and the cunning to always be one step ahead.

There is undoubtedly a feminist thread running through her poetry - particularly the poems from the 1999 anthology The World’s Wife she selected to read on Saturday - but it is far from man-hating. It is more a case of pointing out the more amusing differences between the sexes and having a chuckle. (The men in the audience were chuckling, too, I saw.)

Duffy also gave us the privilege of being able to listen to some of the pieces from her brand new collection, Bees, which was only published on October 2 and included some really varied poetry. Two which stood out particularly for me was a beautiful, lyrical poem, which she wrote for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, about the different rings we have in our life, and another about English pub names.

It was a real pleasure to be there that evening. Well done Warwick Words.

Sundari Sankar