Duffy's testing reply to critics
You've probably read the flurry of press coverage the followed our earlier blog post and the subsequent article in 91Èȱ¬ News Online. To recap, exam board AQA removed a poem, Education for Leisure, from a GCSE anthology because of concerns over knife crime.
The Guardian moves the story on with . A poem writen by Carol Ann Duffy in reply to those who called for Education for Leisure to be removed from the AQA GCSE Anthology. (Invigilator Pat Schofield's complaint triggered the poem's removal), Duffy opens with, "You must prepare your bosom for his knife, said Portia to Antonio in which of Shakespeare's Comedies? ", and continues with a series of questions inviting the reader to remember that there are stabbings and murders aplenty in Shakespeare's work (which remains part of the curriculum).
As a special treat for iPM blog readers, some post-GCSE students from Southwark College kindly agreed to act out scenes from Shakespeare containing elements of what I suppose we can call "knife crime". We recorded these on Thursday, and because of time constraints we weren't able to feature them on the show, but the scenes, first from MacBeth, then Romeo and Juliet, do answer some of the questions posed in Duffy's second poem.
In iPM tonight, for context, you'll hear Education for Leisure, the original poem by Carol Ann Duffy at the centre of the row, beautifully read by iPM'er Ruby Wright. If you miss the broadcast you can read it below:
Education for Leisure
Today I am going to kill something. Anything.
I have had enough of being ignored and today
I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day,
a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets
I squash a fly against the window with my thumb.
We did that at school. Shakespeare. It was in
another language and now the fly is in another language.
I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name.
I am a genius. I could be anything at all, with half
the chance. But today I am going to change the world.
Something's world. The cat avoids me. The cat
knows I am a genius, and has hidden itself.
I pour the goldfish down the bog. I pull the chain.
I see that it is good. The budgie is panicking.
Once a fortnight, I walk the two miles into town
For signing on. They don't appreciate my autograph.
There is nothing left to kill. I dial the radio
and tell the man he's talking to a superstar.
He cuts me off. I get our bread-knife and go out.
The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.
`Education for Leisure' is taken from `Standing Female Nude' by Carol Ann Duffy published by Anvil Press Poetry in 1985
We covered the story thanks to an email from English teacher Becky Silver. In the player below you can hear her talk about her reaction to the news in the player below.
On the programme tonight you'll hear the views of Andrew Motion the Poet Laureate, Pat Schofield,and reactions from some young people in South London.
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