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Carol Ann Duffy

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Poet

The Resume

    (December 23, 1955- )
    Born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
    Wrote 'Fleshweathercock and Other Poems' (1974), 'Fifth Last Song' (1982), 'Standing Female Nude' (1985), 'The Other Country' (1990), 'Mean Time' (1993), 'The World's Wife' (1999), 'Queen Munch and Queen Nibble' (2002), 'Rapture' (2005) and 'The Tear Thief' (2009)
    Won the Whitbread Award (1993) and T.S. Eliot Prize (2005)
    Poet Laureate (2009- )

Why she might be annoying:

    She said about often being compared with Philip Larkin, 'I will concede one point: we are both lesbian poets.'
    She wrote a controversial poem about murderer Myra Hindley.
    Her poem 'Education for Leisure,' which opens with the line 'Today I am going to kill something,' was removed from poetry anthologies by the AQA examination board.
    When she was initially passed over for poet laureate after the death of Ted Hughes, she claimed she was not interested in the post, adding 'I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie. No self-respecting poet should have to.'

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was the first woman, first Scot and first openly gay person to be named poet laureate.
    Her predecessor as poet laureate, Andrew Motion, said, 'She's a Good Thing - capital G, capital T - one of the poets I most enjoy reading.'
    The Guardian wrote, 'She has an infectious sense of fun and can talk dirty with the best of them.'
    She said, 'There's a surge of physical pleasure when you're writing a poem that's akin to physical eroticism.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 31 Votes: 70.97% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 24 Votes: 70.83% Annoying