Duffy and Pugh both present their poetry in similar and different ways. In the title of Duffy’s poem ‘whoever she was’ it suggests to be a nostalgic poem of someone without an identity, with the ‘whoever’ suggesting a careless attitude towards the character. Similarly in Pugh’s poem ‘hello’ the title suggests loneliness and the character wanting to create a relationship with someone. Duffy’s ‘whoever she was’ is written predominantly in third person, to create a careless attitude and detach the reader from the character, emphasising the lack of her relationship. However, Duffy uses a confusion of pronouns, ‘she, myself, I’ to exaggerate her confusion over her identity. Pugh’s poem is also written in third person, as we get to hear the onlooker’s views towards the man, emphasising that people don’t really understand that he’s lonely. However Duffy’s poem ‘Mrs Lazarus’ is written in first person, allowing the reader to emphasise and connect more with what is happening throughout the poem, and also Mrs Lazarus’s feelings.
Imagery is used in Duffy’s poem to present the uncomfortable memories of the character. ‘Clumsy tongue’ gives the impression that these memories of the past relationship are hurtful to her. The contrasting imagery of ‘six silly ladies torn in half by baby fists’ suggests an abrupt end to the relationship with her children. The innocence of ‘six silly’ massively clashes with ‘torn in half’ to emphasize the idea of the relationship being unfixable, as it was ‘torn’. ‘She shapes a church steeple in the air’ is powerful imagery, as I believe that it relates to suicidal thoughts as ‘their wide eyes watch her’ yet their relationship has not been fixed. ‘Dead eyes’ again suggests that without the relationship of her children she has no life left in her, and she feels mentally dead, which to me is powerful imagery. Similarly in ‘Mrs Lazarus’, Duffy uses