valentine

Question 1

author

Answer 1

carol ann duffy

Question 2

context

Answer 2

• she was lesbian, wanted to present a form of love that is atypical, against the norm
• against the consumerist, glorified valentines day

Question 3

structure

Answer 3

• irregular, disjointed, instability, wavering

- one word lines - forceful tone of the speaker

Question 4

paragraph 1

Answer 4

• simple, doesn’t require conventional displays of love and affection
• ‘not a red rose or a satin heart’ - immediately negative tone, brushes off typical gifts on valentine’s day, repeats this to further amplify her rejection with other objects
• ‘i give you an onion’ - abrupt, imperative, blunt, not extravagant, authentic
• ‘a moon wrapped in brown paper’ - metaphor, object of mystery, concealed behind ordinary display, opposite of valentine’s day

Question 5

paragraph 2

Answer 5

• something more desperate, possessive
• ‘it will blind you with tears like a lover’ - enjambment breaks up this line, line about the lover is unexpected due to irregular structure, onion is symbol of love, modal verbs convey certainty
• ‘i am trying to be truthful’ - desperate, urgent, lack of honest maybe
• ‘platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring’ - shrink implies she is confined, suffocated in her relationship, claustrophobic due to the conventional nature of the relationship, loops imply it is cyclical, never ending cycle, forever trapped in her relationship
• ‘cling to your fingers, cling to your knife’ - shift, where it is not a satin heart, red rose, it is a knife, stinging nature of love, persistent pain, hard to move past it