AQA (B): Paper 2: Modern times
What is a gospel? The word originates in two Old English words: god meaning ‘good’, and spell meaning ‘story’. The poems in Carol Ann Duffy’s 2002 collection can therefore be read as ‘good stories’. The implied reference to the New Testament narratives of the life of Jesus is equally important. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are stories told by men about the cultural rebellion and spiritual transformation achieved by Christ. They include parables and miracles which tell of change, and they are held to contain ‘truth’. Duffy’s collection contains didactic stories like the parables, and fantastic metamorphoses like the Gospel miracles. In the sonnet ‘Wish’, she even imagines a resurrection.
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