The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Duffy, Carol Ann. “Little Red Cap.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/1527555/little-red-cap.

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

“Little Red Cap” is Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy’s reinterpretation of the classic French fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. Duffy served as the United Kingdom’s first female poet laureate between 2009 and 2019. “Little Red Cap” first appeared in her 1999 collection The World’s Wife, which explores the perspectives of several peripheral female characters throughout history and folklore. Contrary to the original fairy tale, the poem positions the eponymous character as the architect of her own fate.