Prestige in 'The Crown' Amelie Maurice-Jones 12th Grade

In ‘The Crown’, Carol Ann Duffy explores the prestige and catalogue of duties entailed by queenship through an extended description of a crown. Whilst it cannot be denied that monarchy in the poem is presented as deserving of both awe and respect, the poet’s presentation of the theme is not entirely celebratory as she reveals the trails and difficulties a young Queen must face having inherited the crown.

In ‘The Crown’, Duffy explores the misgivings of a newly appointed Queen who feels a conflict between a desire to devote her services to the country, and an apprehension of the duties and profound history attached to wearing the crown. This is demonstrated through the poet’s lack of fixed rhyme scheme and use of free verse used to mirror the Queen’s conflicting attitudes concerning her new royal status. The perfect rhyme between ‘throne’ and ‘alone’ is therefore particularly interesting in breaking from Duffy’s standard lack of rhyme; used to mark out the loneliness and lack of help that comes with status as Queen; which is emphasized through structural positioning of diction ‘alone’ as ending the line. Indeed, the simile comparing the crown to an ‘O like a well’ is particularly interesting in suggestions that the Queen feels...