According to Carol Ann Duffy Theme Questioning the existence of God A few things to note This is a poem written because of my background and I suppose this time Im writing about my own attitude to Christianity Being Catholic it was pretty strict I wasnt allowed ID: 644125
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Slide1
Carol AnnDuffy
Pilate’s wifeSlide2
According to Carol Ann Duffy:
Theme: Questioning the existence of God
A few things to note
“This is a poem written because of my background and I suppose this time I’m writing about my own attitude to Christianity. Being Catholic, it was pretty strict: I wasn’t allowed
not
to believe. This was a serious and difficult thing to do.
Pilate’s wife doesn’t believe Jesus is the son of God, but she recognizes his huge charisma and his talents . . . And of course she thinks that Pilate did believe, so what he does is doubly bad.”Slide3
According to the Bible, Claudia Procula had a dream about Jesus:
Theme: Assertion of feminine power
A few things to note
While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message:
“Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night, I suffered much on account of him.”Slide4
Themes:
Female voice
Marriage --- disaffection with one’s spouseThe fallibility of menA few things to note
Capable of making mistakes and being wrongSlide5
Poetic form: Dramatic monologue
Structure:
six quatrains (which is very neat, traditional, and straightforward) with frequent uses of caesura and enjambment to interrupt the flow of the lines (which creates tension, as it is the opposite of neat, traditional, and straightforward)A few things to noteSlide6
1
Firstly
, his hands – a woman’s. Softer than mine,2 with pearly nails, like shells from Galilee.3 Indolent hands. Camp hands that clapped for grapes.4
Their pale, mothy touch made me flinch. Pontius.
Stanza 1 – Tone: harsh, disdainful
- Motif of
hands
We use our hands to labor, to do
work
.
- Description
of hands ---- diction, imagery,
simile
-
Caesura
= a pause in the midst of a line of poetry (as opposed to the end of the line) that follows the rhymth of natural speech; makes a dramatic effectSlide7
5 I
longed for Rome, home, someone else. When the Nazarene
6 entered Jerusalem, my maid and I crept out,7 bored stiff, disguised, and joined the frenzied crowd.8
I tripped, clutched the bridle of an ass, looked up
9
and there he was. His face? Ugly. Talented.
Stanza 2 – Tone: matter-of-fact
-
Foreshadowing: Claudia Procula is already on Jesus’ side
-
Enjambment
= the lack of punctuation at the end of a line of poetry, which forces the idea into the next
line
-
Asyndeton
= the lack of conjunctions in a list of items; this quickens the pace and adds rhythm to a lineSlide8
9 and
there he was. His face? Ugly. Talented.
10 He looked at me. I mean he looked at me. My God.11 His eyes were eyes to die for. Then he was gone,
12 his rough men shouldering a pathway to the gates.
Stanza 3 – Tone: earnest, emphatic
- Diction: “ugly” + “talented”
Which one matters more?
- Double entendre
- Foreshadowing: Jesus will die.
- Italics
e
mphasis
on “me”Slide9
13 The
night before his trial, I dreamt of him.
14 His brown hands touched me. Then it hurt.15 Then blood. I saw that each tough palm was skewered16 by
a nail. I woke up, sweating, sexual, terrified.
Stanza 4 – Tone: matter-of-fact
- Allusion to Claudia Procula’s
dream
Duffy’s revision
- Motif of hands
We use our hands to labor, to do
work
.
- Description
of hands ---- diction, imagery
-
Juxtaposition
between Jesus and
PontiusSlide10
13 The
night before his trial, I dreamt of him.
14 His brown hands touched me. Then it hurt.15 Then blood. I saw that each tough palm was skewered16 by
a nail. I woke up, sweating, sexual, terrified.
Stanza 4 – Tone: matter-of-fact
- List of adjectives ---- reference to the
Passion of Jesus
- Why is Claudia Procula sexual?
- Why is
she terrified?
This is what we call the suffering that Jesus endured leading up to and during his crucifixion. Slide11
17
Leave
him alone. I sent a warning note, then quickly dressed.18 When I arrived, the Nazarene was crowned with thorns.19 The crowd was baying for Barabbas. Pilate saw me,
20 looked away, then carefully turned up his sleeves
21
and slowly washed his useless, perfumed hands.
Stanza 5 – Tone: meticulous or matter-of-fact
- Imperative statement
-
Allusion
to
Barabbas
- Asyndeton
-
Enjambment
He’s the convicted murderer that Pontius Pilate freed when he could have released Jesus. Slide12
21 and
slowly washed his useless, perfumed hands.
22 They seized the prophet then and dragged him out,23 up to the Place of Skulls. My maid knows all the rest.24 Was
he God? Of course not. Pilate believed he was.
Stanza 6 – Tone: disdainful
- Motif of hands
-
Description of hands ---- diction
- Allusion
to
Place of Skulls
This is the name of the hill where Jesus was crucified.Slide13
21 and
slowly washed his useless, perfumed hands.
22 They seized the prophet then and dragged him out,23 up to the Place of Skulls. My maid knows all the rest.24 Was
he God? Of course not. Pilate believed he was.
Stanza 6 – Tone: disdainful
- Hypophora
- Why does it matter that Pilate thought Jesus was God?
-
Why is
Claudia Procula
recalling this incident?
- Why isn’t she interested in telling us the rest?
What is her real focus here?Slide14
Homework
How does Duffy convey Claudia
Procula’s disaffection for her spouse in “Pilate’s Wife”?