The suitcase of Hermes, Poetry

Mrs Beast, an Italian translation of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem

bestiaSILVIA PIO

Carol Ann Duffy (Glasgow 1955) is a poet and playwright. In 2009 she was appointed Britain’s poet laureate, a title whose holder is expected to write verse for significant national occasions. She is the first woman, and the first Scot, to hold the position, which has a duration of ten years.

The World’s Wife is a collection of poems first published in 1999 which presents famous characters, stories, histories and myths from a female perspective. The characters are the wives of famous men: Queen Herod, Mrs Sisyphus, Mrs Faust, Queen Kong and also The Devil’s Wife, together with Medusa, Circe, Penelope, and many others.

In The World’s Wife Duffy gives her female characters a voice to speak out against male dominance; she also portrays a different side of the stories’ traditional versions, which are focused on the male characters.

In the Italian section Margutte is publishing a new translation of one of the poems in The World’s Wife.

(Illustration by Franco Blandino)