Wearing her influences too clearly on her sleeves - Rated 
Rapture won Carol Ann Duffy - who was made the UK's Poet Laureate earlier this year - the T.S. Eliot prize for poetry in 2005. It is a 'cycle' of 52 poems on the loss of a life-changing love and was written in - and is presumably intended to refer to - the aftermath of Duffy's separation from poet Jackie Kay.
I have read a smattering of Duffy's poetry over the years, but this was the first time that I concentrated on a complete collection, reading it through. And I was astounded by the number of parallels that arose to the poetry of Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) - not somebody who you would automatically associate with the more accessible and populist Duffy:
- In the poems written in the months before her death at 30, Plath is fond of using a three-word repetition for emphasis (e.g. 'The Applicant' ends with the implicit question 'Will you marry it, marry it, marry it'). Duffy takes up this technique in her poem 'Name' and uses it to similar effect: 'I hear your name / rhyming, rhyming / rhyming with everything'.
- Plath used Brontë land as a site of inspiration in her poem 'Wuthering Heights' as does Duffy in her poem 'Haworth' (the village in which the Brontës grew up and where most of them died).
- Moon imagery is central to Plath's poetic landscape, often representing coldness and negative motherhood (e.g. 'Edge', 'The Moon and the Yew Tree'). In 'Give' - almost all of the poems in Duffy's collection have one-word titles - Duffy has 'Give me the silvery cold / of the moon' (it appears again in her poem 'World': 'you pass the moon to me').
- Star imagery also plays an important role in Plath's 'late' poetry, where stars are shrouded in fatalism (e.g. 'Words'). For Duffy, the star is also a sign of unrest, if more ambivalently so: 'as I turn in my sleep / the bud of a star' ('World').
- In one of Plath's most famous poems 'Lady Lazarus', the poet feminises the biblical tale of rebirth. Duffy does this too, propelled in her case by what love can do: 'I swear your love / would raise me / out of my grave / in my flesh and blood / like Lazarus' ('If I Was Dead').
- Plath's ambivalent, vicious rebuttal of the mother in 'Medusa' is resurrected in Duffy's collection too: In Duffy's 'Answer' 'your head [is] a wild Medusa hissing flame'.
- One of Plath's bee poems is called 'Wintering' ('Winter is for women' she writes); Duffy also entitles a poem in this collection 'Wintering' as well as referring to winter trees - the title of a collection of Plath's poems which was published posthumously.
- Finally (are you still there?!), mirror and water imagery congregate in Plath's poetry and are often associated with foreboding and identity problems. They converge too in Duffy's verse in the 'mirrored in water'.
It is perhaps not surprising that Duffy's desire to explore the loss of love in a direct and vulnerable way recalls Sylvia Plath's poetry. And Duffy and her admirers could argue that she does something original in transporting Plathian tropes into an explicitly lesbian context. There are also some powerful, original one-liners in the collection - incidentally also a forte of Plath's - such as 'Then love comes like a sudden flight of birds' ('Rapture') or the more simple 'Now I can hear you clearly, speaking of love' ('Hand') and one startlingly appropriate image: 'the dark fruit of your nipple' in 'Venus'. But I ultimately felt that Duffy had let herself be excessively influenced here (there is also a clear trace of Wilfred Owen in one of the poems) and has borrowed too freely from other writers (also deliberately taking 'a red, red rose' directly from Robert Burns).
Sticker spoiled book - Rated
I bought this book as a gift, and paid more for the hardback version as I wanted it to be special. The book itself was fine, however there was a large sticker on the back of the book and when I removed it, a sticky white mark remained. I have been unable to move it. I think that if a seller markets a book referring to it's appropriateness for a special gift then the condition should be much better. I was very disappointed.
Become enraptured with Rapture... - Rated 
RAPTURE by Carol Ann Duffy is simply a beautiful collection of poetry. The over-reaching theme is that of love, but as the back cover explains, "Rapture is a map of real love, in all its churning complexity". From the very first poem, "You", the reader is able to detect that this set of love poems will pack a punch if necessary. While the appealing, gentle side of falling in love is recognised, so too is the horrible side to love - the side which can torture a person's soul. As Duffy so eloquently says, "Falling in love / is glamorous hell".
To me, this is just what love poetry should be. Showing us both the sides of what it is to fall in love with someone and to be loved by someone. It can raise you up and it can dash you back down again. Duffy has also recognised that love changes over the course of a relationship - the opening poem describes how a loved one comes into our life and changes it; they offer up themselves as a "touchable dream" to us, with all the possibilities that brings. There is also the exploration of how our actions can make us feel absurd, as we search for the "small xx" in a text message. And, of course, how even their name can take on a different meaning to us:- "When did your name / change from a proper noun / to a charm?"
What Duffy has created with RAPTURE is a book-length love poem. Regardless of where you may be in your personal love journey, there will be many poems that will speak to you within this gorgeous collection. If you love truly, and deeply, your heart will have been exposed to the potential of hurt, but also to the possibility of rapture. Here, Duffy shows us this.
This particular edition of RAPTURE is also worthy of mention. It is beautifully created - the red of the cover set with the silver writing and cover design give it a magical, romantic feel. It is definitely a book that you can either treasure yourself or offer as a gift to someone else.
Personally, I shall treasure this book. And maybe one day I shall find that special someone that I can share it with them.
Fabulous poetry!! - Rated
Carol Ann Duffy's book is the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize. It is a collection of love poems about the different complex manifestations of love, such as the feelings of infatuation, longing, passion, commitment, rancor, separation and grief. This fabulous collection speaks for everyone.
Joyce Akesson, author of Love's Thrilling Dimensions
The conjugation of love - Rated
This is a collection of love poems by Carol Ann Duffy. This is my perfect, most romantic Valentine gift. I've never read any of her works before. From the first poem to the last, the crispness of her poetry is just powerful and achingly beautiful. It gives me the most profound effect. John Berger, the poet and novelist, once wrote "Poetry speaks to the immediate wound". After I read Duffy's poem, I realised how true this statement was. Duffy's prose is filled with delicate love letters containing poetry and thoughts on different forms of love and its manifestations. There are only 80 pages in this book but this 80 pages you will read again and again as if this book for me is like a form of prayer book, like The Book of Hours in the middle ages...you want to carry it in your pocket wherever you go and read it as often as you can.
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