Carol Ann Duffy's "Delilah"

Carol Ann Duffy’s “Delilah”

Context

Duffy’s poem “Delilah” is another retelling of a Bible story from Duffy’s collection. The biblical story of Samson and Delilah can be found in the Old Testament in the Book of Judges. In the original Bible story, Samson has superhuman strength and his enemies ask Delilah to find his secret to it. Delilah uses her sexual powers to charm Samson and finds out that his hair is the source of his strength. As a result, Delilah has become a misogynistic symbol over the years, depicted as a femme fatale or treacherous woman who is a man’s undoing.

However, in Duffy’s poem, Delilah informs us that her warrior lover Samson actually wishes to learn to be tender. He describes his masculine physique, strength, and prowess to her, but also desires to change his nature. When he falls asleep, Delilah cuts off his hair, and with it his masculine strength. Duffy’s poem, therefore, subverts the misogynistic depiction of Delilah in addition to exploring masculinity.

The poem is written as an eight-stanza poem that is divided into uneven sets of lines. The first stanza has six lines, the second: nine, the third: six, the fourth: ten, the fifth: one, the sixth: seven, the seventh: one, and the eighth: two. Duffy also chose to write this poem in free verse, meaning that it does not make use of a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern.

Teach me, he said—

we were lying in bed—

how to care.

I nibbled the purse of his ear.

What do you mean?

Tell me more.

He sat up and reached for his beer

How are both Samson and Delilah characterised in Duffy’s poem with Samson asking Delilah to teach him? How might this differ from the original story? Conversely, how does Samson’s use of an imperative characterise him?

Does Duffy’s use of rhyme in this first stanza impact the poem, create an effect, or enhance the mood at all?

Does the couple being in bed impact the poem or its characters? Does it affect the mood? Also, might the word “lying” having two meaning be of any importance?

This line follows from the first; Samson says “teach me how to care,” but it is broken with a line in between. Is there any significance to this?

What is achieved through the diction in “nibbled”?

In the original story, Delilah is paid by the Philistines to find Samson’s weakness and betray him. The lexical choice of “purse of his ear” could allude to this, and her questioning and asking him to say more could also set the poem up to be similar.

What does beer have connotations with? How does this characterise Samson?

I can rip out the roar

from the throat of a tiger,

or gargle with fire

or sleep one whole night in the Minotaur's lair,

or flay the bellowing fur

from a bear,

all for a dare.

There's nothing I fear.

Put your hand here—

Do you see the rhyme scheme that continues throughout the poem. The line endings are almost all monosyllabic words — masculine rhyme — that are consonant or assonant with “hair”. In the first stanza, there is “care”, with the vowel sound /ɛ́ː/ rhyming with hair (assonant rhyme), and “ear”, “more” and “beer” which are consonant rhymes (/r/). In this stanza, note the line endings “roar”, “fire”, and “fur” all consonantly rhyme with “hair”, and the last couplet rhymes “bear” and “dare” asonantly with “hair”. The effect is to reinforce the importance of Samson’s hair in the story.

What do you think the effect is of the consonance in “rip out a the roar”? How does it add to Samson’s characterisation?

The Minotaur is actually a Greek myth and not from the Bible. This anachronism, however, does kind of link Samson to other heroes like Hercules, who had to defeat the Minotaur as part of his 12 Labours, as well as the Nemean lion, which is kind of similar to a tiger. What could Duffy be saying about masculinity in general through this possible allusion?

What effect does Samson’s boasting have? Is it important that he is bragging about harming animals? How does all this boasting characterise him and what does it say about masculinity?

he guided my fingers over the scar

over his heart,

a four-medal wound from the war—

but I cannot be gentle, or loving, or tender.

I have to be strong.

What is the cure?

How does this scarred heart subvert classical masculinity and how does it characterise Samson? Does the use of enjambment have any particular effect?

The wound is from the four tasks in the previous stanza. Does the consonance of the /w/ sound have a particular effect

In one line, Samson uses polysyndeton and a semantic field of classically feminine traits to express what he cannot be; in the next, in a short and direct sentence, he says what he “[has] to” be. What is the effect of the structures in this section?

What effect does Samson’s rhetorical question have here?

He fucked me again

until he was sore,

then we both took a shower.

Then he lay with his head on my lap

for a darkening hour;

his voice, for a change, a soft burr

I could just about hear.

And, yes, I was sure

that he wanted to change,

my warrior.

I was there.

How does this line juxtapose the previous stanza? What is the effect of the lexical choice of “fucked”?

How does Duffy subvert our expectations of this masculine man being the sore one, with Delilah not expressing this?

Another anachronism as there were no showers in the days of the Bible; however, what could taking a shower symbolise?

What does this visual imagery evoke? What might it remind you of?

What does the onomatopoeic sound of Samson’s “soft burr” suggest about his character?

Are we sure Samson wants to change and lose his powerful strength? How do you read this poem? Do you read it as a criticism of hegemonic masculinity and toxic masculinity, depicting a man who really desires to change, or is Delilah still betraying Samson like in the Biblical story?

What connotations does the word “warrior” have? What effect does it have here as Delilah thinks of Samson’s more tender and less classically masculine side?

So when I felt him soften and sleep,

when he started, as usual, to snore,

I let him slip and slide and sprawl, handsome and huge,

on the floor.

And before I fetched and sharpened my scissors—

snipping first at the black and biblical air—

I fastened the chain to the door.

That's the how and the why and the where.

Then with deliberate, passionate hands

I cut every lock of his hair.

What effect does the consonance have within this context? Does the sound remind you of anything and is that important? How does it add to the mood?

How does the long sentence structure in this line emphasise what is happening? Does the alliteration of the /h/ sound similarly add to the content?

What about the use of enjambment?

How does this line characterise Delilah?

Does the parallelism in this line have a specific effect within the context?

Lock can have multiple meanings. On the one hand, a lock of hair are pieces of hair cut from the head, but a lock can be something which traps us (in or out). Could this be important?