In Carol Ann Duffy's "Pope Joan," male-dominated religious and political institutions only think they hold all the power: women are the ones who perform real miracles. The poem's speaker is the legendary Pope Joan herself, a woman who was said to have disguised herself as a man and become Pope around the year 850—only to be discovered when she went into labor during a religious procession. This poem's Joan loses interest in her powerful position almost as soon as she's achieved it, and she confides that she really felt the "power of God" when she gave birth. This poem appeared in Duffy's influential 1999 collection The World's Wife, a collection of similar dramatic monologues that give voice to otherwise silent women in history and myth.

• Read the full text of “Pope Joan”

• “Pope Joan” Summary

• “Pope Joan” Themes

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    Childbirth and Women's Power

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-30
  • 

    Religion and Patriarchy

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-30

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Pope Joan”

  • Lines 1-9

    After I learned to transubstantiate ...
    ... blessing the air

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-18

    nearer to heaven ...
    ... believe a word

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-27

    so I tell ...
    ... between my legs

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-30

    where I lay ...
    ... pope at all

    

    

    

    

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• “Pope Joan” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 9: “blessing and blessing the air”
    • Line 17: “believe”
    • Line 18: “believe”
    • Lines 24-25: “lifting me, flinging me down / lifting me, flinging me down”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “I learned to transubstantiate / unleavened bread / into the sacred host”
    • Line 4: “swung the burning frankincense”
    • Line 8: “high up in a papal chair”
    • Line 13: “having made the Vatican my home”
    • Line 15: “in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti amen”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “transubstantiate / unleavened”
    • Lines 2-3: “bread / into”
    • Lines 5-6: “smoke / coiled”
    • Lines 10-11: “heaven / than”
    • Lines 17-18: “believe / that”
    • Lines 21-22: “felt / to”
    • Lines 23-24: “hand / lifting”
    • Lines 26-27: “out / from”
    • Lines 28-29: “road / in”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 5-6: “blue-green snakes of smoke / coiled round the hem of my robe”
    • Lines 23-24: “a hand / lifting me, flinging me down”

• “Pope Joan” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Unleavened bread
  • The sacred host
  • Transubstantiate
  • Frankincense
  • Papal chair
  • The Vatican
  • In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti amen
  • Virtuous
  • Flinging
  • (Location in poem: Lines 1-3: “I learned to transubstantiate / unleavened bread / into the sacred host”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Pope Joan”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Pope Joan” Speaker

• “Pope Joan” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Pope Joan”

• More “Pope Joan” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Interview with Duffy — Watch a short video interview with Duffy.

    • Duffy's Legacy — Read an article discussing Duffy's influential role as the first female Poet Laureate of the UK.

    • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Duffy's life and work in this biography from the Poetry Foundation.

    • The Legend of Pope Joan — Read about the wild (and almost certainly legendary) story behind this poem.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Circe

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Darwin

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Icarus

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Quickdraw

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • The Good Teachers

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work

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