The one word title is a loaded adjective, which carries different associations in the mind of each reader. The irony is that the lives of the beautiful women, explored in the poem, were difficult, contrasting tragically to their physical loveliness. According to The Guardian, schools were urged to destroy copies of the unedited anthology, [37] though this was later denied by AQA. [38] Duffy called the decision ridiculous. "It's an anti-violence poem," she said. "It is a plea for education rather than violence." She responded with "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", a poem about violence in other fiction, and the point of it. "Explain how poetry/pursues the human like the smitten moon/above the weeping, laughing earth ..." [39] The Mrs. Schofield of the title refers to Pat Schofield, an external examiner at Lutterworth College, Leicestershire, who complained about "Education for Leisure," calling it "absolutely horrendous." [38] Duffy suggests that women are brought up to nurture, transforming into teachers that carry the legacy of the past. The ‘safe vessels’ which will continue the passing on of knowledge seem like an important role. Yet, the attached ‘sensible’ seems boring and tasteless. Duffy could be suggesting that this form of learning numbs both teacher and student equally. She doesn't feel that artists living together necessarily have to be a bomb waiting to go off in the manner of Plath and Hughes. She has lived long stretches of her life with poets and is very down-to-earth about poets and relationships. "I think it's just what your job is. You meet people at work, and I'm more likely to co The hallucinatory, almost feverish, presentation of Monroe’s life begins with ‘slept’. Duffy presents the woman exploited from the moment she wakes right till she sleeps. Everything in between is connected with hellish asyndeton, propelling the poem onwards, ‘coffee, pills, booze’. The reference to addictive substances foreshadows Monroe’s death, overdosing on sleeping pills.

Kinser, Jeremy (30 August 2010). "Thousands Attend Manchester HIV Vigil". Advocate.com . Retrieved 17 July 2016. The first of the women explored in Beautiful is Helen of Troy. Helen is a character from Greek Mythology, known as the daughter of Zeus and Leda. She is commonly referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world, hence her inclusion in the poem. She became a figure much loved in art and history, with much of literature touching on her story. The head girl, Josephine June, is stripped of her ‘Head Girl’s badge’. The monotonous oppression of the school emphasized through the blunt use of assonance, ‘Assembly’s abysmal affair’, is deeply depressing. Although it is a group issue of laughing, only one girl, in particular, is punished. Duffy could be commenting on the prejudiced nature of society, always finding one person to blame. The young girls reject this, their screams of ‘All for one!’ echoing across the stanza. The use of italics for this phrase represents how they have taken over the power structure of the school. Where once it was oppressive teachings occupying the italics, now the girls have reclaimed this style.One could argue there is a slight reference to Desdemona from Othello, ‘a handkerchief she’d dropped once’. This reference bears relevance as Desdemona is murdered by Othello due to his male rage, unable to believe his loyal wife. The end of this section points to Cleopatra’s downfall, yet is much more subtle than the other sections. This is perhaps relating to how successful Cleopatra was in her life, her demise only a tiny part of her story. The historic romance of ‘armies changing sides, of cities lost forever in the sea’ creates a tone of reverence. Cleopatra is fantastically powerful, her demise coming from a self-inflicted ‘snake’ bite. This section ends with a powerful demonstration of Cleopatra’s success. The clever grammatical division, using caesura, or everything in this section coming before ‘of snakes’ represents her final moment. Death to a snake bite is her final act, ‘snakes’ bluntly finishing her section.

Themes: loss of control, loss of identity, suffering, society pressure altering women to fit into stereotypesIn 2015, Duffy was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. [16] Poet laureate [ edit ] Though nothing is known of Helen’s death, the other three — significantly — died gruesomely; Cleopatra used a poisenous snake to bite and kill her; Marilyn Munroe committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping tablets, and Diana died in a car crash pursued by the press seeking photographs. Upon deciding on a man to be with, Helen ‘fled’. Again, Duffy uses caesura to emphasize this word. The use of ‘fled’ plays into the semantics of hunter and prey, with Helen being reduced to a fleeing animal. The reaction to this escape inspires ‘War’, the grave impact of her beauty leading to total chaos. Helen is followed and prosecuted only for her beauty. The use of sibilance to describe ‘Señora Devizes’, ’sartorial, strict, slim, severe, teacher of Spanish’ furthers the qualities it names. The constant /s/ carried across these words create a whisper-like quality, reflecting the quiet anger of the teacher. For all her shouting, ‘Callaos! Callaos! Callaos! Quédense!’, she cannot control the ‘young lungs flowering’. The use of floral imagery relates to classical femininity, the use of ‘flowering’ suggesting that the girls are blossoming due to their combined laughter. They are described as animals, furthering the connection with the power of nature, ‘The Hall was a zoo’.