"Mrs Darwin" takes the form of an imagined diary entry by Emma Darwin, wife of the naturalist Charles Darwin, in which she recounts an 1852 trip to the zoo where she told her husband that he resembles a chimpanzee. By cheekily implying that Emma may have given Charles the idea that humans evolved from apes, the poem highlights how women's contributions to history are often erased or ignored. The speaker's remark also sounds like a subtle dig at her husband's manners, and the poem thus further suggests that Charles Darwin, despite being a larger-than-life figure, was as a regular, flawed human being. "Mrs Darwin" appeared in Carol Ann Duffy's 1999 collection, The World's Wife, which features poems told from the perspective of female counterparts of famous male figures from history and myth.

• Read the full text of “Mrs Darwin”

• “Mrs Darwin” Summary

• “Mrs Darwin” Themes

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    The Women Behind Great Men

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mrs Darwin”

  • Lines 1-2

    7 April 1852. ...
    ... to the Zoo.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-4

    I said to Him— ...
    ... me of you.

    

    

    

    

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• “Mrs Darwin” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “1852.”
    • Line 2: “Zoo.”
    • Line 3: “Him—”
    • Line 4: “you.”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “1852”
    • Line 2: “to,” “Zoo”
    • Line 4: “you”

  • Irony

    

    

    

    

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    Where irony appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-4

• “Mrs Darwin” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • 7 April 1852
  • Him
  • Chimpanzee
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “7 April 1852.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mrs Darwin”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Mrs Darwin” Speaker

• “Mrs Darwin” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Mrs Darwin”

• More “Mrs Darwin” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Carol Ann Duffy on "Great Women poets" — Listen to an interview with Duffy on the day she became the first female poet laureate of the UK.

    • The Lost Lectures: Carol Ann Duffy — Hear Duffy read from her work and discuss her artistic inspirations. 

    • Who Was Emma Darwin? — A short biography of Emma Darwin from the University of Cambridge. 

    • Carol Ann Duffy's Life and Work — A short biography of Duffy from the Poetry Foundation.

    • The Theory of Evolution — Learn more about the world-changing theory that Duffy pokes gentle fun at here.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Circe

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Icarus

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Pope Joan

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Quickdraw

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • The Good Teachers

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work

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