Loud

• poetic outcry against injustice, amplifying women’s voices in a bold stand against oppression and inequality.
• form

  moments of internal rhyme acceleration goes hand in hand with the explosive voice of the poem. The fifth line of each stanza is shorter than the rest. In doing this, the final line becomes jarring to read. This disruption is emblematic of the woman’s voice finally breaking free. This could represent the ability of women to transcend the imposition placed on their voices, speaking out about the horrors of the world.
• stanza 1,2

  opening line key verb of the poem, ‘shout’.  endstop after the word, breaking silence is incredibly important,

  harsh consonance plosive of ‘p’ in ‘ripped’ mirrors the brutality of the explosive voice. Her voice springs from her body, ‘ripped out of her throat’, voice is represented by light, ‘a flash of light in the dark’, signalling the positive impact that women’s voices are brining. Light is understood as a metaphor for positivity, with ‘dark’ being negativity, the voice lighting up the dark.
• stanza 3,4,5

  hyperbole of ‘she could call abroad without using the phone’ power the female voice. symbolizes the freedom voice ‘bird’ is often a symbol of flight and freedom, therefore symbolizing women breaking from the constraints of society. Duffy furthers the combination of women and nature imagery, ‘uttering lightning’. Nature is often a symbol of power within the literature, Duffy attaches this power to the female voice.
• 6,7,8


   personifies the female voice incredible power, ‘stomped through the city’ and ‘shaking the bells’ as she goes. harsh consonance , ‘prayers of the priest', rage.

  Asyndeton closes the poem, ‘loud, loud, louder’, poem ends on ‘the News’. The finality of this image could display how the ‘News’ is yet more powerful,chilling image, cyclic final line both referencing the horrors of the news.
• A03

  sexist notion that women must be silent and quiet. The idea that a woman is ‘bossy’ if she speaks out has been a sexist idea for much of the modern era. Duffy presents a woman who rejects the stereotype of silence, using her voice to advocate for change.