All women are her. Ode to the Duchess of Malfi. (first position)

Cherry

By alphadog1

Mon, 15 Oct 2012
  • 456 reads
2 comments
 

The cruelty of men placed her within a barbed wire cage
But oh how strong she stood, so bold and so very brave
For she guards her spirit from the black hooked talon’s,
And a dark murder that longs to scythe the night apart.

The men bitterly mocked her, as they cruelly fought her,
They placed a gnarled rope around her proud noble neck,
And she took what they gave her, and faced her monster,
As the cruel brothers she knew just stole her spirit away.

But… oh… Christ how bloody brightly she still now sings,
With such open blossoming spring that from shining tiers
Which wrestles here so beautiful so eternal and so bright,
That slowly glisten as they rise with an ever diamond hew.

For the cruelty of men spat and simply called her a harlot,
But they did not know of the power that she had within,
For she was honest and proud and defiant and so loud,
And the man that she dearly loved gave himself for her.

Who is she? She is the light, she is the stain, she is the song,
She is the refrain, she is the humble the woken the proud.
She is the beauty, she is the duty, she is the body so strong.
And she is all woman, and in all women… and all women are her.

Certificate 15
Poem
Opinion

Comments

Submitted by Sooz006 on
This is beautiful. Very well written. Can I put on my C.V that I'm the Duchess of Malfi? ;-)

 

Submitted by alphadog1 on
if you want, please do. for me, She is the heroine...she is a complete woman and a role model, or so Webster thought. When the play was written in 1613, the thought of a leading role for a woman was never considered. And though she dies badly, she dies because the men in her life are all misogynistic sex obsessed cowards and so guilt ridden... but don't take my word for it, read the play...it is an eye opener. I have to say, when I first picked the play up I was not impressed. I thought it was -in places- poorly written,and dry of much meaning... However, when Webster wrote "she stained the time past and light's the time to come..." I was touched by it. There is almost in every phrase, a simile, an extended simile, a metaphor an extended metaphor and an allegory... reading the play is like deciphering a code; but its just mind blowing... the poem comes from the images I have in my head from reading it. Its been a bugger to get out too... every word was wrenched from me... (that sounds a bit crap, but its true.) This was hard to write, because I wanted it to sound real what I have read. I didn't want it to sound shallow. The Duchess of Malfi, is a complete person and all woman...proud, strong beautiful but real and open too... not a sex object, or a goddess to be placed upon a pedestal... without sounding like an arse, Its worth the effort, even if the play seems dry at times. Re the play, It is true. It does not have the depth of Shakespeare, or the beautiful turn of phrase of Marlowe, but its still a strong piece of work and the leading lady... well she leads...and the complex characterisation is simply brilliant. Christ if I could write like them...