Abstract
This paper discusses vegetarian eco-feminist consciousness in Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry by close analysis of two poems, namely “The Dolphins” and “A Healthy Diet” from her poem collection Standing Female Nude . The former is a dramatic monologue of a dolphin, which is exploited by people, and the latter is a dramatic monologue of an omnipotent observer in a restaurant. Both poems criticized the species-ism, and together, they showed the poet’s vegetarian eco-feminist consciousness. A close reading of the two poems from the eco-feminist perspective helps the reader understand why Carol Ann Duffy is honored as the first woman poet laureate in British history, and better understand vegetarian eco-feminism and its influence in British society. Keywords: eco-feminism; consciousness, species-ism, vegetarian, animal, diet
Highlights
Carol Ann Duffy, the first woman poet laureate in British history, is noticed as a feminist poet (Rees-Jones, 1999; Michelis & Rowland,2003; Zhou, 2013, 2014), and studied as a poet with sympathy for people living in the margin of the society (Aydin,2010)
By close reading of the two poems from the eco-feminist perspective, this paper aims to help the reader better understand the present British poet laureate as a poet of eco-feminist viewpoints and her sympathy for all living beings in the world
By “A Healthy Diet”, Duffy advocates vegetarianism for the protection of animals, for which meat-eating is criticized as a “form of patriarchal domination” in the 1972s in lesbian feminists’ criticism
Summary
Carol Ann Duffy, the first woman poet laureate in British history, is noticed as a feminist poet (Rees-Jones, 1999; Michelis & Rowland,2003; Zhou, 2013, 2014), and studied as a poet with sympathy for people living in the margin of the society (Aydin,2010). In Standing Female Nude, Duffy showed vegetarian eco-feminist consciousness, and called for animal protection and vegetarianism in two poems, namely “The Dolphins”, calling for animal liberation from being captured and trained for commercial performance, and “A Healthy Diet”, calling for vegetarianism by criticizing human beings for eating animals. The above facts of animal suffering, including separation of newborn animals from their mothers, being chained and debeaked and crowded and shortened in lifespan, being confined and fed for the purpose of more births of the newborn, are facts of human greed and cruelty, more exactly speaking, facts of the commitment of species-ism by human beings, and facts shown in Carol Ann Duffy’s poems like “The Dolphins” and “A Healthy Diet” from her poem collection. By “A Healthy Diet”, Duffy advocates vegetarianism for the protection of animals, for which meat-eating is criticized as a “form of patriarchal domination” in the 1972s in lesbian feminists’ criticism.
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