Mrs Lazarus Carol Ann Duffy Objectives To understand

Mrs Lazarus Carol Ann Duffy

Objectives To understand be able to comment on the thoughts and feelings of Mrs Lazarus after husband has died and when he returns

Starter Who was Lazarus? How might you react in a similar situation?

Glossary Anachronistic = something happening that is in the wrong time/out of place

Lazarus was very ill and was going to die. Jesus came to his home and left without saying or doing anything. Lazarus eventually died and two days later, Jesus returned and performed a miracle. He cured Lazarus and made him rise from the dead. Why did he wait two days?

Mrs Lazarus The poem changes a few of the details. We see what happens through the eyes of Mrs Lazarus and how she copes with her husband’s death. The poem makes his death longer, almost a year (perhaps more), before the miracle of his resurrection. During that time, Mrs Lazarus has grieved and met someone else.

Mrs Lazarus Read the poem through and write down what is taking place.

Stanza 1 1. 2. Highlight some of the powerful verbs that describe her grief. What do these words teach us about how she felt? Why is the word ‘dead’ repeated twice at the end of the stanza?

Stanza 2 1. 2. 3. 4. ‘Gone home. Gutted the place’. These are fractured sentences. Why? ‘single cot’ and ‘one empty glove’ suggest what to the reader? What words are anachronistic in this stanza? How does this make her seem? How does she wear his tie?

Stanza 3 1. 2. ‘Nun’, ‘stations of bereavement’ and ‘icon’ are all religious terms. Did religion help her pain? the metaphor ‘dwindling to the shrunk size of a snapshot’ suggests what to the reader?

Stanza 4 1. 2. When we think of ‘going, going. . ’ what’s missing? What is happening to his memory? What is Lazarus reduced to in the last line?

Stanza 5 1. How long was she faithful for?

Stanza 6 In this stanza Mrs Lazarus is beginning to appreciate life again and learning to love. 1. The metaphor, ’in a shawl of fine air’, explains how she is viewing nature. Explain this. 2. What changes the mood of this stanza towards the end?

Stanza 7 1. Highlight the negative adjectives of this stanza. Why are the people described in this way?

Stanza 8 1. 2. 3. 4. How is Lazarus described? Why? ‘The grave’s slack chew’ is an interesting metaphor. What had the grave done to Lazarus? The alliteration of the last line is very harsh. What is it describing? What do the final five lines of the poem mean?