Valentine Flashcards
What is the context for ‘Valentine’? [3]
Who is Carol Ann Duffy?
- Lesbian
- First woman Poet Laureate
- Is shows a more modern love with dismissive references to late 20th Century classic romantic gesture
- (1955- )
What is the content for ‘Valentine’?
A persona is giving an unusual gift of an onion to portray the love she has
What is the aim for ‘Valentine’?
To portray a comedic, more realistic image of love than the noramal cliche gifts
What is the tone for ‘Valentine’? [2}
Intense / Direct
Who wrote ‘Valentine’?
Carol Ann Duffy
What quote in the second stanza symbolises the persona’s love - techniques used and there affect? [4]
‘It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. It promises light!’
- Moon associated with romantic poetry
- Could be a metaphore for having to peel the layers of someone/getting to know them before seeing the real them
- Once you do know them you can see the ‘light’
What is the rhyme scheme in Valentine?
There is none
What quote shows they don’t value the classic ‘romantic’ gifts? [5]
‘Not a red rose or a satin heart’
- As it is at the start of the poem it emphasises how she is mocking the usual romantic gifts
- Also emphasies the difference between these gifts and a onion
‘Not a cute card or a kissogram’
- Mocking the traditional gifts
What quote in the second stanza shows that love can change you and hurt? [3]
‘It will blind you with tears’ and ‘It will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief’
- Shows love can change your personality until you don’t recognise the new person you have become
- ‘Tears’ can suggest pain and unhappiness
What vocabulary is used to show that the partner was rejecting the onion? [6]
‘Here.’ and ‘Take it.’
- Endstops on both
- Imperatives used to emphasise the insistence
‘I am trying to be truthful’
- Alliteration used to emphaise the sincerity
What qualities are present in the relationship that are shown through the onion [3]
‘Its fierce kiss will stay on you lips, possessive and faithful as we are, for as long as we are’
- Implies both their characters are like this while they are together
- Enjambent mirrors the idea of a longer standing relationship
What quote shows the persona wants to progress further in the relationship? [3]
‘Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring, if you like’
- Proposeal. ‘Platinum’ suggest sincerityy as it is evpensive and valuable
- ‘If you like’ suggests hesitancy
What quote shows the relationship will last for a ling time? [4]
‘Its scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife’
- Shows how relationships stay with you even after it’s over like an onions stay on a knife
- Last word is eerie
- Repitiotion of ‘cling’ emphaises that it means honding on to a secure point of safety, a partner, to a suffocating degree
