Valentine Flashcards
“Not a red rose or satin heart.”
Dramatic, one line stanza. It rejects the overly sentimental and materialistic ideas about love. She is immediately deviating from the norm.
“I give you an onion.”
Instead, she aims to present a more ‘truthful’ and realistic picture of a relationship and way love really means. It is meant to shock the reader through the unconventional gift.
“It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.”
Extended image of the onion is meant to show the positive and negative aspect of love as the word choice of ‘moon’ is meant to symbolise love and romanticism. Love opens for many new opportunities. By ‘wrapping’ the moon (onion), Duffy also shows that love does not need to be flashy, it can be simple and normal.
“It promises light”
Light has connotations of a bright future, a happy tine ahead which she guarantees can be their time together, with many possibilities. The image is an extension of the description of the onion as a ‘moon’ which is a reflection of its shape and colour- a pale orb.
“like the careful undressing of love.”
Delicate, tender and intimate. A gentle metaphor for sex (taking off clothes).
“Here.”
Minor sentence. Duffy is being incredibly insistent: thrusting this truthful representation of love (the onion) into the arms of her lover as she wants her lover to be under no illusion in their relationship.
“It will blind you with tears.”
The onion is multi-layered just as human relationships are. Love promises so much but can leave you in tears when it doesn’t work out. Cutting open and onion can also make you cry, hence the metaphor.
“wobbling photo of grief”
You’ll look into the mirror and see tears. The word choice of ‘photo’ suggests memory/nostalgia of the past and past relationships. Love can make you very upset and unable to see things clearly.
“fierce kiss”
Makes the reader think about the more lustful, aggressive, dangerous and scary kind of love. Being so in love in makes you overly passionate.
“possessive and faithful”
Word choice of ‘possessive’ has negative connotations- being possessive over someone can often lead to bad relationships, yet the word choice of ‘faithful’ shows more positive connotations- being faithful to the one you love is what builds to a successful relationship.
“Take it.”
Minor sentence emphasises an aggressive command. Duffy will not take ‘no’ for an answer.
“Cling to your fingers/Cling to your knife.”
Violent, aggressive, frightening. Relationships can and will be painful. The extended metaphor of the onion once again tells us that marriage can often mean entrapment in abusive relationships.
“shrink to a wedding ring/if you like.”
This phrase reflects the diminution that takes place when you get married- that you almost cease to become an individual. The assonance of the i’s suggests that marriage can be very restrictive. The enjambement shows that Duffy believes that marriage is not a necessity- which contrasts with the common belief at the time that all couples must eventually get married.
“lethal.”
Love can hurt- in abusive relationships, it can literally kill you, yet Duffy means this metaphorically: relationships that go badly can have a detrimental impact on your mental health. This is a terrible indictment by Duffy of what love actually is.
