Poetry - Valentine Flashcards
‘Not a red rose’
starting word is negative, which contradicts the alliteration of the red rose (a physical symbol of love) as well as contradicting the title of the poem which represents traditional love.
‘moon wrapped in brown paper’
refers to the traditional romantic connatations around the moon and its effects on our behaviour and emotions
‘It promises light
like the careful undressing of love’
the enjambment gives the stanza flow.
‘promises’ suggest things that were said but never fullfilled much like the hardships of being in a relationship.
‘it will blind you with tears’
the introduction of some negative connatations around love. ‘tears’ suggests distress = love is a painful powerless experience. ‘blind you’ suggests your lover can blind you with pain, sorrow and suffering.
‘i am trying to be truthful’
honesty and truth of love, the onion represents something truthful of love through is features, compared to the satin hearts and red roses which are idealised love.
‘not a cute card or kissogram’
the reiteration of describing what love isn’t highlights the common misconceptions that people make when they assume what love represents and entails for the individuals. These objects do not represent these raw emotions and feelings felt and expressed within a relationship.
‘its fierce kiss will stay on your lips’
‘fierce’ suggests connatations around agression and intensity symbolising the other side of love = dark/dangerous.
‘stay with you’ suggest that relationships and the emotions exchanged stay with you.
‘possesive and fathful’
juxtaposition of the 2 words: possessive a more negative connatation suggesting a more controlled relationship with a lack of freedom, which are not valued within a relationship. ‘faithful’ can be linked to the words expressed in the marrige vow, which symbolises quite a hard desicsion to make: honourable and lifelong.
‘take it’
a third reiteration of taking the onion carries a more forceful and commanding tone which could suggest a more one-sided, potentially opressive relationship.
‘Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring’
‘wedding-ring’ is a symbol of a strong relationship through a legal contract.
‘platinum is not a warm colour, quite cool in comparison to gold. It is also a hard metal’
‘shrink’ suggests marrige is confining as you are legally binded to the contract of marrige, could suggest that the relationship lacks space, freedom and is constricting on the individual
‘cling to your fingers’
links back to the possessive descriptions of marrige, and is symbolism of a dangerous relationship.
