Elvis's Twin Sister
Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?
Elvis is alive and she’s female: Madonna
In the convent, y’all
I tend the gardens,
watch things grow,
pray for the immortal soul
of rock ‘n’ roll
They call me
Sister Presley here.
The Reverend Mother
digs the way I move my hips
just like my brother
Gregorian chant
drifts out across the herbs,
Pascha nostrum immolatus est…
I wear a simple habit,
darkish hues,
a wimple with novice-sewn
lace band, a rosary,
a chain of keys,
a pair of good and sturdy
blue suede shoes.
I think of it
as Graceland here,
a land of grace.
It puts my trademark slow lopsided smile
back on my face
Lawdy.
I’m alive and well.
Long time since I walked
down Lonely Street
towards Heartbreak Hotel.
Elvis Aaron Presley was known as the "King of Rock and Roll". He had a twin brother but was born dead. (the poem "Elvis' twin sister" may have some reference to that). He took drugs through out his life and went to the army for 2 years, and was found dead at the age of 42. Elvis Presley is famous for his charm and his dance moves where he shakes his pelvis, thus the nickname "Elvis the Pelvis". (Clever word play of P. Elvis). The "I" in "Elvis's Twin Sister" is a nun in a church.
“Elvis’s twin sister” by Carol Ann Duffy greatly relates to Elvis Presley and can be seen through out the whole poem. The first person of the poem is the twin sister of Elvis Presley, a nun in a private convert, contrasting Elvis’ rockstar public life. The choice of using Elvis’ imaginary twin sister mainly relates to Elvis Presley as he had a dead twin brother at birth.
The first line of the poem “In the convent, y’all” provides information about the location and the occupation of the twin sister, suggesting that “I” am in a nunnery. “y’all” gives the poem a voice, an accent that can be identify as Southern America, as well as relates back to how Elvis Presley spoke. In line 4-5 “pray for the immortal soul/ of rock “n” roll”, Duffy enhances the theme of clergy through the verb “pray”. While “I” could be speaking about the music genre rock and roll, she perhaps could be speaking of her dead brother who symbolized rock and roll, in which he lived forever through his music. The fact that Duffy deifies Elvis as “the immortal soul” provides great irony and satire. Elvis was “immortal”, yet died at such a young age that he became famous for it. In line 6-7 “They call me/ Sister Presley here.”, Duffy used semantic ambiguity to cleverly play with the phrase “Sister Presley”. The phrase refers to the twin sister’s status in her clergy, as nuns are often called Sisters; as well as the fact that she is the twin sister of Elvis. She then proceed onto “The Reverend Mother/ digs the way I move my hips/ just like my brother”. As Elvis Presley was famous for his pelvis dance (thus the nickname Elvis and Pelvis), this is an initial hint in the poem how the two, Elvis and his twin sister are similar, despite the fact that they may have contrasting occupations and personality. The verb “dig” could as well be a reference to the earlier phrase “I tend the gardens” in line 2. In line 11-13 “Gregorian chant/ drifts out across the herbs,/ Pascha nostrum immolatus est…” Duffy continues to link the twin sister to Elvis through music (“chant”), and make use of an allusion to the Bible through the chant “Pascha nostrum immolatus est…”, meaning “Our lamb (passover) has been sacrificed”. Duffy, or as the twin sister, once again deifies Elvis by comparing him to Jesus (lamb), symbolizing the death of Elvis as the Jesus’. This reinforces the theme of clergy.
A second part of the poem starts at line 14-20, in which Duffy further describes the twin sister. The description starts off with “I wear a simple habit”, persist to contrast between the simple life of the twin sister and the busy life of Elvis through the metaphor of treating “habit” as clothing. The next line “darkish hues” contains semantic ambiguity, referring to her darkish toned clothing, or epithetically describing her personality being dark. Line 16-20 describes a set of clothing closely similar to what Elvis wears such as “a rosary” or “suede shoes”, honoring Elvis. In line 17 “lace band, a rosary”, although a “rosary” means a necklace, it can also be interoperated as a religious devotion. The fact that Duffy particularly used “rosary” instead of “necklace” or “chain” could perhaps be to reinforce and tie in with the theme clergy. “a chain of keys” in line 18 contains a subtle oxymoron by placing the antithesis of “keys” with “a chain”. Keys symbolize freedom while chains symbolize the opposite. This gives the phrase stress. When Duffy describes the “sturdy blue suede shoes” in line 19-20, an alliteration was used to emphasize the “shoes”, while the repeated “s” sounds change the tone of the poem into soft and gentle. Line 21-23 “I think of it/ as Graceland here,/ a land of grace.” make reference to Elvis’ home in Memphis named Graceland Mansion, and plays with the word, rearranging into “a land of grace”. The fact that Graceland is now empty as Elvis has passed away, perhaps represents the emptiness his twin sister feels about his death. However the next line contrast this idea, suggesting that “It puts my trademark slow lopsided smile/ back on my face”, once again showing the similarity between Elvis and his twin sister through the reference to Elvis’ “lopsided smile”.
The poem concludes with a final part of the poem, with allusions to Elvis’ songs through out. The verse begins with “Lawdy”, the only line in the poem with only a single word, referencing to Elvis’ covered song “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” by Lloyd Price. By placing only “Lawdy” as the whole line gives the poem a pause, as well as slows the readers down. Although none of song writer or singers explained what “Lawdy” means, it was suggest that “Lawdy” possibly signify “Lady”. With this in mind, it could be possible that this last part of the poem, from line 26-31, could be a message or letter from Elvis to his sister, with “Lawdy” as a salutation. This is followed and complimented by “I’m alive and well”, suggesting that Elvis is “alive” through music, or contrasting the twin sister’s well-being with the death of Elvis. The lines “Long time since I walked/ down Lonely Street/ towards Heartbreak Hotel” is again an allusion to the lyrics of Elvis’ song “Heartbreak hotel”: “It's down at the end of lonely street at Heartbreak Hotel.” This allusion is an analogy of how it has been a “long time” since Elvis and his twin sister have revisit his music.
To conclude, Carol Ann Duffy’s “Elvis’s Twin Sister” is a brilliant poem. Every detail of the poem was cleverly placed, and this poem is more intelligent than at first glance. Duffy used allusions to Elvis Presley through the title and whole poem, in addition constantly strengthen the theme of clergy. Several semantic ambiguity, as well as other literature and poetic devices such as deification and irony was used, increasing the emphasis on certain parts of the poem. Easily-understandable words were used, allowing a vast majority of readers to understand and appreciate the poem.