Only a few years ago, at an earlier Ledbury Poetry Festival, Carol Ann Duffy was denounced by one heckler as a man hater and a blasphemer.

That was unjust then, and all the more so now. Not that there were any hecklers in a full and steamy Community Hall on Friday evening, for the launch reading of the 2008 Festival.Duffy has become a national treasure. Like WB Yeats before her: because of her talent, her success, she has discovered that she has the power to bless, and bless she does.Yes, the quick-fire wit of "The World's Wife" was on show again, and men do indeed get a rough ride in that book.Mrs Midas tells Mr Midas to "keep his hands to himself" and she locks the cat in the cellar.Mr Tiresias, turned into a woman by the gods starts his period and has "one week in bed..two doctors." If this were the full extent of Duffy's act, she would be an entertaining feminist icon, but not a writer of enduring universal appeal.However, over the years, Duffy's deep humanity has come closer to the surface.She tells us, and parents everywhere, "I stood at the edge of my child's sleep.."Outside there is "the wise dark with its face of moon."These are great, stirring images, and they will communicate immediately to a great many people.In the love poem "Row", Duffy observes, "When we rowed the room swayed and sank down on its knees."Hearts are "jagged stones in our fists".Despite a cold, Duffy read beautifully, clearly, wishing to be heard; and heard she was.