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Analysis Of Carol Ann Duffy's Little Red-Cap

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Little Red-Cap is a poem about the transition from adolescence to adulthood, the search for a ‘voice’ and independence, and carries subtle allusions towards Duffy’s life. There is an atmosphere of darkness throughout most of the poem, as implied by “deep into the woods”. Woods and forests were often associated with fear in fairy-tales, mostly due to the inability to see through the abundance of trees and how getting lost was incredibly difficult. The ‘woods’ in the poem seem to symbolise the journey into adulthood, as adolescents are being lead deeper into the mystery of growing up. The darkness gives the poem eeriness, as bad things are often associated with the dark and the nighttime. The “dark tangled thorny place” suggests that the journey to adulthood is riddled with obstacles. There is a lingering sense of the unease towards the poem’s dark, almost morbid, atmosphere. It suggests that maybe growing up is not as bright and beautiful as it is made out to be to children. The allusions to the original fairy-tale create an almost naïve, …show more content…

One direct reference is in the poem, Little Red is “sweet sixteen” when she meets the wolf; Duffy was sixteen when her relationship with 39 year old poet Adrian Henri began. Words like “bearded” and “wine” used to describe the wolf gives off an aura of age and maturity. There are connotations of Little Red being exploited in the poem for her naivety by the wolf, which really heightens the creepy atmosphere of the poem. It was assumed by many that Duffy was under her lover’s influence during their time together, until she published her first poetry anthology and proved that she had her own mind. Little Red-Cap seems to mirror this as throughout the poem it seems that she is under the wolf’s influence, but comes to realise that she must break away from the wolf to discover her own creative

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