Carol Ann Duffy Quotations Flashcards

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1
Q

VALENTINE: Duffy immediately states what Valentines Day should not represent.

A

“Not a red rose or a satin heart.”

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2
Q

VALENTINE: Duffy suggests that the basic gift of an onion holds much more meaning, an extended metaphor.

A

“It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. It promises light, like the careful undressing of love.”

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3
Q

VALENTINE: Continuing the extended metaphor, Duffy warns of the dangers of the onion - similar to a lover.

A

“It will blind you with tears, like a lover.”

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4
Q

VALENTINE: Duffy reminds us at the end, that the bitter feelings of a relationship, like an onion, can linger.

A

“Its scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife.”

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5
Q

HAVISHAM: To open the poem, an oxymoron shows Havisham’s conflicting views.

A

“Beloved sweetheart bastard.”

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6
Q

HAVISHAM: Metaphor emphasises the pain and deep hatred Havisham has for her fiance; envy, pain, rough.”

A

“Prayed for it so hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes, ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.”

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7
Q

HAVISHAM: She wants to take out her frustration and torture on her lover, doing what she never had.

A

“Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.”

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8
Q

HAVISHAM: To conclude, she reminds us on the many ways she’s broken, looking for sympathy and a re-evaluation of her situation.

A

“Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.”

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9
Q

AH: Use of a list and reference to Shakespeare’s literary settings pays tribute to the encompassing, passionate lovemaking.

A

“The bed we loved in was a spinning world, of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas.”

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10
Q

AH: Anne Hathaway fantasises about being Shakespeare’s muse and inspiration, she views herself as a product of his imagination.

A

“Some nights, I dreamed he’d written me, the bed a page beneath his writer’s hands.”

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11
Q

AH: The guests contrast the passionate lovemaking of her and Shakespeare, for emphasis. Prose lacks form, control and structure compared to poetry.

A

“In the other bed, the best, our guests dozed on, dribbling their prose.”

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12
Q

AH: Final rhyming couplet emphasises that what matters are the memories to preserve him, not physical remains. He is alive in her mind.

A

“I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head, as he held me upon that next best bed.”

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13
Q

MIDAS: The moment of realisation of the danger of this gift is captured, showing stages of transformation to gold. Suggests poison? Curse?

A

“He picked up the glass, goblet, golden chalice, drank.”

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14
Q

MIDAS: Mrs M adopts a reflective mood, contrasting imagery to emphasise her feelings of loss at no longer being intimate with her husband.

A

“We were passionate then, in those halcyon days, unwrapping each other, rapidly, like fast food. But now I fear his honeyed embrace.”

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15
Q

MIDAS: Mrs M adopts third person narrative, blames herself for her husband’s stupidity and condemning herself, reflecting on the gossipmongers.

A

“The woman who married the fool who wished for gold.”

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16
Q

MIDAS: Mrs M shows her sense of loss and pain at no longer being intimate with her husband, to conclude the poem. Sensual aspects, sensory details.

A

“I miss most, even now, his hands, his warm hands on my skin, his touch.”

17
Q

ORIGINALLY: Use of a list to convey how much has been lost, image of travelling and zooming back from where she is now to emphasise the distance between her now and her childhood.

A

“as the miles rushed back to the city, the street, the house, the vacant rooms where we didn’t live anymore.”

18
Q

ORIGINALLY: Simile conveys idea of an irritation which cannot be ignored, her feelings of loss reflected from her parents and shown through a child’s view; wobbly teeth. Idea of change.

A

“My parents anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head.”

19
Q

ORIGINALLY: Duffy lists everything she’s lost, question highlights her uncertainty about where she belongs. Highlights feelings of isolation and separation.

A

“I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space, and the right place?”

20
Q

ORIGINALLY: Questions to conclude the poem. Duffy has been aiming to answer where she belongs this poem, but her hesitation at the end suggests she is no nearer to finding out.

A

“Now, where do you come from? Strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate.”

21
Q

WP: Metaphor in first stanza emphasises the importance of his job as he tries to bring order and brings to life the suffering he has witnessed.

A

“spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.”

22
Q

WP: The after effects of the war is clear, as he now - in contrast to earlier - suffers PTSD. Ambiguity, are these photos the solutions to war?

A

“Solutions slop in trays beneath his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now.”

23
Q

WP: The effects of war leaves a long lasting impact on not only the location, but his mind. Sense of nimbyism, people don’t care as it’s not happening near them.

A

“and how the blood stained into foreign dust.”

24
Q

WP: To conclude the poem, we are reminded of how people will pay little proper attention to what’s happening. Cynical tone. Rhyme for emphasis.

A

“the reader’s eyeballs prick with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers.”