Carol Ann Duffy Quiz - the answers

1. Which Duffy poem appears in the BBC’s ‘Nation’s Favourite Poems’ anthology?
A: 'Warming Her Pearls'

2. In 2001 Duffy edited an anthology of love poems in which contemporary poets choose a poem of their own and one written by the opposite sex. What’s the title of the anthology and from which poet was the title taken?
A: Hand in Hand, Christina Rossetti

3. Who appears in a Duffy poem in ‘The World’s Wife’ and in a controversial song on The Smith’s first album?
A: Myra Hindley appears in 'The Devil's Wife' in The World's Wife and 'Suffer Little Children' on The Smith's first album

4. What award did Duffy win for ‘Whoever She Was’?
A: National Poetry Competition, 1983

5. The Guardian newspaper ran a long poem by Duffy in December 2008, a pastiche of which Victorian story?
A: Charles Dickens's, 'A Christmas Carol'

6. In which Duffy collection can you find the following preface (from Shakespeare’s ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’) ‘Now no discourse, except it be of Love; / Now I can break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep / Upon the very naked name of Love.’?
A: Rapture

7.In her first interview after being awarded The Poet Laureate role in May 2009, Duffy announced she will be donating her annual fee to which organisation?
A: The Poetry Society

8. Why would the last line of Duffy’s ‘Prayer’ need to be changed if she wrote it today?
A: The last line is 'Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.' Finisterre is now called FitzRoy.

9. Why is the subject of a poem from The World’s Wife linked to fellow poet Ruth Padel?
A: The poem is called 'Mrs Darwin' and Ruth Padel is Darwin's great-great granddaughter.

10.‘But afterwards we wondered / why the infant did not cry. And why the Mother did.’ Which mother and baby is Duffy referring to?
A: The Virgin Mary and Jesus.

11. ‘Rounds’ is a ‘concrete’ poem - in the shape of what?
A: Christmas tree

12. Why was Duffy’s poem ‘Education for Leisure’ in the news in 2009?
A: It was banned from English schools national curriculum for references to knives.

13. In 1995, Penguin Modern Poets Volume 2 included selections from Duffy and which other 2 poets?
A: Eavan Boland and Vicki Feaver.

14. Allium cepa (Latin translation) – on what day of the year does Duffy 'give us' this vegetable?
A: 24 February. In 'Valentine' Duffy writes: 'Not a red rose or a satin heart. // I give you an onion.' Allium cepa is the Latin for onion.

15. Duffy edited Answering Back, in which contemporary poets choose a poem that has meant something to them, and write a poem in response to it. Which poet did Duffy write a poem in response to?
A: Rudyard Kipling.

16. What links the title of a Duffy poem to a hit song for Elkie Brooks and Ariel’s song from ‘The Tempest’?
A: Pearls. Duffy's poem is 'Warming Her Pearls', Elkie Brooks's song is 'Pearl's a Singer' and Ariel's song contains the line 'those were pearls that were his eyes.'

17. Which singer performs a hit song for ‘The Kray Sisters’? What’s the song?
A: Nancy Sinatra sings 'These Boots were made for Walking'.

18. What links Duffy to a 1984 Mike Leigh film starring Tim Roth, Phil Daniels and Gary Oldman? Why?
A: Duffy's collection is Mean Time and Leigh's film is Meantime.

19. Which Duffy poem begins ‘A one a two a one two three four’ and ends ‘(A woogie wop a loo bam) yeah yeah yeah.’?
A: $

20. Which Duffy poem includes the following lines: ‘In the tea leaves / I can see the Queen of England gazing / on my shape. Magnificent, she murmurs, / moving on. It makes me laugh.’
A: 'Standing Female Nude'.

21. Who links Duffy to Brendan Gallacher?
A: It's a poem by Jackie Kay, Duffy's ex partner.

22. The day after Duffy’s appointment as Laureate, The Guardian newspaper published new work from her favourite women poets. Name 3 of the poets.
A: Any 3 from Moniza Alvi, Sujata Bhatt, Colette Bryce, Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Maura Dooley, Vicki Feaver, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochhead, Grace Nichols, Alice Oswald, Ruth Padel or Jo Shapcott. www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/02/carol-ann-duffy-women-poetry

23. For which collection did Duffy win the TS Eliot prize?
Rapture

24. Which 2 honours has Duffy received from the Queen (not including the Laureateship)?
OBE and CBE

25. Which Duffy collection ends with the following lines? ‘I hear the bird sing its song, / piercing the hour, to bring first light this Christmas dawn, / a gift, the blush of memory.’
Rapture