the diet

• Duffy may be arguing that obsessively thin women are in fact metaphorically fat , because they're still controlled by the idea of being fat through their aversion to it
• The point of Duffy's poems were to tell truths about female issues through tall stories
• Duffy uses Jeux d'esprit - a fun idea that plays with the mind
• the symmetrical system of the poem gives us a sense of inevitability and inescapability
• 'the diet worked like a dream' - her dream is to be thinner , implies it's a positive thing
• 'no sugar , no alcohol , salt , dairy , fat , protein , starch or alcohol' - polysydentic listing. Declarative statement.

  • mimics society's standard expectations
• listing - spiral , caesura used for breaking as she is weak from the diet
• 'by the end of week one' - time references , shows how she processes her schedule and how it revolves around her diet
• 'dinner , thinner' - internal rhyme , rhythm in skipping meals
• 'by the end of the month she was skin and bone' - dehumanisation , end of the month makes it sound like payday , a reward
• 'starved on, stayed in , stared in' - 's' sound highlights how harsh her diet is and how its eroding her down. Also shows her growing obsession with her appearance
• 'the last apple aged in the fruit bowl, untouched' - decaying alongside the food. She's choosing not to eat healthy food yet seems to find her diet healthy
• 'her skeleton preened her under its tight flesh dress.' - meant to look impressive, maybe she thinks it will make her look attractive. instead looks unhuman and scary
• 'had guns for hips.' - danger imagery. Guns aimed at those who judged her prior to the diet.
• the fact that she doesn't eat the last apple showcases how she is rejecting the OG Adam and Eve sin. Not giving into temptation by eating
• 'What passed her lips?' - Rhetorical question , gossip , secret. Shows how she might be hiding it
• 'She was Anorexia's true daughter.' - parental , governing force. She has stuck to her diet. To her , her diet is comforting. Gives her sense of control
• 'a slip of a girl , a shadow , dwindling away.' - doesn't exist. Represent's society lack of sympathy , fades into backgrounds.
• 'she started to grow smaller , child-sized, doll-sized' - oxymoron , grows smaller yet gains power. Regression of female identity , sexless.
• 'the height of a thimble' - mental and physical deteration. Surreal. Similar to Blanche
• 'she sat at her open window and the wind blew her away.' - object to this desire , passive to the diet as she is blown away. Her window is open , doesn't try and stop it?
• 'she was out and about , looking for home.' - lack of home suggests lack of security , not belonging. Her diet has separated her from society. Similar to Blanche
• 'started to sing, down , out , nobody's love' - shift from physical imagery to emotional. Perhaps she went on the diet to become more attractive and find love?
• 'they raved all night.' - society congratulates those who diet and starve themselves
• 'made for the light' - metaphor for death? Perhaps hope and bigger , better things? Desire to be who she truly wants to be after all?
• 'she slept for hours' - depression
• 'drifted away on a breeze' - lack of control , dwindling away of self
• 'lay in the tent of a nostril like a germ' - negatively affecting everyone , contagious nature of anxiety
• 'but when she squatted' - 'but' = Volta. Binging now. Squatting implies she is out of place, sense of shame
• 'bottoms up , fetched up.' - t sound shows the fragility of position, about to break.
• 'bottoms up , cheers ,fetched up in a stomach just before lunch.' - asyndetic listing , confusing like eating
• 'hearing the avalanche munch of food' - avalanche shows how unstoppable it is
• 'then it was sweet.' - decadent , enjoyment
• 'then it stilton , roquefort , weisslacker-kase, get' - triad , posh food
• suffers with body dysmorphia - perceive self to look a certain way