The Full Text of “Work”
The Full Text of “Work”
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“Work” Introduction
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“Work” Summary
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“Work” Themes
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The Relentless Nature of Women's Work
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-4
- Lines 5-12
- Lines 13-20
- Lines 21-28
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Capitalism, Greed, and Humanity's Exploitation of the Earth
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-36
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Work”
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Lines 1-4
To feed one, ...
... was a dream. -
Lines 5-8
To feed two, ...
... To feed four, -
Lines 9-12
she grafted harder, ...
... a different kettle, -
Lines 13-16
was factory gates ...
... shift, schlepped, lifted. -
Lines 17-20
For a thousand ...
... feed more, more, -
Lines 21-24
she dug underground, ...
... to millions now, -
Lines 25-28
she flogged TVs, ...
... at Internet shopping. -
Lines 29-32
A billion named, ...
... offspring swelled. She fed -
Lines 33-36
the world, wept ...
... fingers twenty-four seven.
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“Work” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 3: “soup,” “spoon”
- Line 7: “corn”
- Line 8: “born,” “four”
- Line 9: “harder”
- Line 10: “larder,” “table”
- Line 11: “game,” “able”
- Line 14: “oil,” “noise”
- Line 15: “toiled,” “sweated,” “went”
- Line 16: “shift,” “schlepped,” “lifted”
- Line 18: “that,” “high-rise,” “flats,” “grew”
- Line 19: “brood”
- Line 22: “trains,” “came”
- Line 23: “planes,” “sound”
- Line 24: “now”
- Line 25: “TVs”
- Line 26: “PCs,” “CDs,” “DVDs”
- Line 27: “stopping,” “slogged”
- Line 28: “shopping”
- Line 30: “seas,” “trees”
- Line 31: “beef,” “cheap”
- Line 32: “week”
- Line 33: “rain”
- Line 34: “grain”
- Line 35: “lay,” “grave”
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 1: “To feed”
- Line 5: “To feed”
- Line 8: “To feed”
- Line 10: “food,” “food”
- Line 11: “Feeding”
- Line 15: “To feed”
- Line 17: “For”
- Line 18: “for,” “double”
- Line 19: “doubled”
- Line 20: “To feed,” “more, more,”
- Line 32: “fed”
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Asyndeton
Where asyndeton appears in the poem:- Line 2
- Lines 3-4
- Lines 6-7
- Lines 9-11
- Lines 13-14
- Lines 15-16
- Lines 17-18
- Lines 18-20
- Line 20
- Lines 21-22
- Lines 22-23
- Lines 25-26
- Lines 29-32
- Lines 32-36
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Extended Metaphor
Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:- Lines 1-36
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 3: “soup,” “spoon”
- Line 6: “outside,” “sewed seeds”
- Line 7: “scythed”
- Line 8: “feed four”
- Line 13: “factory”
- Line 14: “first”
- Line 15: “feed fifty”
- Line 16: “shift, schlepped”
- Line 21: “tunnelled”
- Line 22: “track,” “trains,” “Quadruple came”
- Line 24: “Mother,” “millions”
- Line 27: “stopping,” “slogged”
- Line 30: “fish,” “felled”
- Line 31: “fast food”
- Line 32: “offspring swelled”
- Line 33: “world, wept,” “teeth”
- Line 34: “swam,” “tongue,” “spawn”
- Line 35: “sickened”
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“Work” 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.
- Threshed
- Scythed
- Grafted
- Alehouse
- Larder
- A different kettle
- Schlepped
- Brood
- Trebled
- Flogged
- Slogged
- Trawled
- Hoovered
- Felled
- Spawn
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(Location in poem: Lines 6-7: “she worked outside, sewed seeds, watered, / threshed, scythed, gathered barley, wheat, corn.”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Work”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Work” Speaker
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“Work” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Work”
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More “Work” Resources
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External Resources
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Guardian Book Review of Feminine Gospels — Elaine Feinstein takes a close look at Duffy's 2002 collection, in which "Work" was published.
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An Introduction to Duffy's Life and Career — A biography of the poetry from the Poetry Foundation.
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The Exploitation of Women in Today's Global Workforce — A Human Rights Watch article discussing the various ways in which female workers continue to be undervalued and even abused.
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The Impact of Human Exploitation of the Earth — A Natural History Museum article explaining how human consumption is impacting the earth, what people can do about it, and what will happen if no action is taken.
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Duffy on Her Role as Poet Laureate — An interview with Duffy in which she discusses the importance of her responsibility as the first woman and LGBTQ+ poet laureate of the United Kingdom.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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