UNMASKING MISANDRY: A NEW HISTORICIST READING OF CAROL ANN DUFFY’S “MRS AESOP” AND “EURYDICE”

Abstract

The new historicism theory propounds that history is inherently textual, is composed of texts, and thus no such thing as absolute truth is possible while recounting the past. As a form of text, poetry stands out as a tool to reflect the society of which it is a product. As the first female poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy encapsulates both fictional and nonfictional women from history and successfully manipulates what has already been narrated by men into something novel to give voice to women’s concerns in her poetry. This study, employing a new historicist approach, examines “Mrs Aesop” and “Eurydice” from Duffy’s poetry collection The World’s Wife to explore the prevailing sense of misandry among women in the late-twentieth-century Britain with the potential motivations behind the social dynamics that might have resulted in hostility towards men.