This script was written to practice IO on Carol Ann Duffy’s Salome. It includes a detailed, line-by-line commentary and analysis of literary devices and themes.

I got a final 7 with the help of my analytical script!

 

[Sample excerpts]

Salome

 

Introduction

  • The extract I am going to analyze is Salome, which is one of the poems in Carol Ann Duffy’s 1999 collection called The World’s Wife.
  • Duffy’s collection of poems mainly highlights feminism and her personal, autobiographical experiences. In order to create a dominant female character, she inverted original myths, legends, or fairy stories and came up with a completely new storyline.

 

Context

  • In the original biblical story of Salome, she is a daughter of Herod and Herodias, who asked for the head of John the Baptist, followed by her mother’s order.
  • However, in this poem, Salome is portrayed as a promiscuous woman and John is just one of the men she slept with.
  • This poem establishes a really strong voice of women which goes against prevalent expectations of women.

 

Thesis

  • In this commentary, I will be mainly analyzing the characterization of Salome through her tone, and how symbolism, foreshadowing, and a biblical allusion are used to set the overall mood of this poem. Lastly, I will talk about the main theme of a role reversal, that reveals through her dictions…

 

  • Total number of pages: 4 pages
  • Topic: English A SL Individual Oral (IO) Script – Carol Ann Duffy “Salome”
  • Subject: English A
  • The file is in PDF format.