The speaker of Carol Ann Duffy's "Recognition" is a lonely middle-aged woman out grocery shopping. As she goes through the motions of the mundane task at hand, her mind bounces between self-deprecating thoughts about the woman she's become and memories of the romantic, carefree woman she was years ago. Contrasting that former happiness with her current misery and regret, the poem cautions against letting life "get away from" you. "Recognition" was published in Duffy's 1987 collection, Selling Manhattan.
|
Get
LitCharts
|
|
The Full Text of “Recognition”
The Full Text of “Recognition”
-
“Recognition” Summary
-
-
“Recognition” Themes
-
Aging, Relationships, and Regret
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-32
-
Aging and Womanhood
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-2
- Lines 5-9
- Lines 14-24
- Lines 26-32
-
-
Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Recognition”
-
Lines 1-4
Things get away ...
... even know them. -
Lines 5-8
I strain to ...
... put powder on, -
Lines 9-12
but it flakes ...
... all the essentials -
Lines 13-16
on one trip. ...
... promised the earth. -
Lines 17-20
You see this ...
... held a pose -
Lines 21-24
which left me ...
... Claret. I blushed. -
Lines 25-28
Cheese. Kleenex. ...
... flush, and bumped -
Lines 29-32
into an anxious, ...
... sorry sorry sorry.
-
-
“Recognition” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
-
Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 2: “I’ve,” “know”
- Line 3: “I’ve”
- Line 4: “know”
- Line 5: “I”
- Line 7: “Years”
- Line 8: “I”
- Line 9: “but,” “I”
- Line 10: “but”
- Line 12: “I”
- Line 14: “weepy”
- Line 19: “wept”
- Line 24: “I”
- Line 26: “I”
- Line 27: “Years,” “I”
- Line 31: “and,” “stared,” “Stared”
- Line 32: “and,” “sorry sorry sorry”
-
Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 8: “put,” “powder”
- Line 15: “blond,” “boy”
- Line 18: “stood,” “scales”
- Line 20: “creamy”
- Line 21: “clogged”
- Line 22: “waste,” “forgotten”
- Line 23: “fumbled”
- Line 24: “compassionless,” “Claret”
- Line 25: “Kleenex”
- Line 28: “blind,” “bumped”
- Line 31: “stared,” “Stared”
- Line 32: “said,” “sorry,” “sorry,” “sorry”
-
Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 2: “go,” “know”
- Line 4: “don’t,” “know”
- Line 5: “time”
- Line 6: “lighter”
- Line 11: “gets,” “upset”
- Line 20: “ladies,” “pose”
- Line 21: “old”
- Line 22: “waste”
- Line 23: “gaped”
- Line 24: “compassionless. Claret.”
- Line 25: “Cheese,” “Kleenex,” “happen”
- Line 26: “grass”
- Line 27: “laughing,” “rush”
- Line 28: “flush,” “bumped”
-
Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 3-4: “three / and”
- Lines 5-6: “time / when”
- Lines 7-8: “swollen / with”
- Lines 10-11: “proof / has”
- Lines 12-13: “essentials / on”
- Lines 15-16: “up / in”
- Lines 17-18: “me / as”
- Lines 19-20: “window / creamy”
- Lines 20-21: “pose / which”
- Lines 28-29: “bumped / into”
- Lines 29-30: “matron / who”
- Lines 30-31: “mirror / and”
- Lines 31-32: “Stared / and”
-
Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Lines 9-11
- Lines 14-32
-
-
“Recognition” 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.
- Evaporated
- Quiche
- Shallots
- Clogged
- Fumbled
- Shopgirl
- Gaped
- Claret
- Slip
- Dowdy matron
-
(Location in poem: Lines 10-11: “but the proof / has evaporated”)
-
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Recognition”
-
Form
-
Meter
-
Rhyme Scheme
-
-
“Recognition” Speaker
-
-
“Recognition” Setting
-
-
Literary and Historical Context of “Recognition”
-
-
More “Recognition” Resources
-
External Resources
-
An Introduction to the Poet — Learn more about Duffy's life and career in this article by the Poetry Foundation.
-
An Interview with Duffy for her 2009 Poetry Collection, Sincerity — An interview with Duffy for the Scottish Review of Books in which Duffy discusses her life, work, influences, and her role as Poet Laureate.
-
Pan Macmillan Synopsis of Selling Manhattan — Read the publisher's synopsis for Selling Manhattan, the collection in which "Recognition" was published.
-
A History of the Dramatic Monologue — A brief look at the history of the dramatic monologue, a form Duffy frequently uses for her poems, including "Recognition."
-
-
LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
-
Ask LitCharts AI:
The answer to your questions
Powered by LitCharts content and AI.
