Valentine Flashcards
Themes
- Love and Relationship
- Negative Emotions
Subject
Carol Ann Duffy writes about giving their partner an onion and uses the extended metaphor of this to show why an onion is a more appropriate symbol of love rather than other stereotypical gifts
Title
“Valentine” implies/ sets up for an expectation of cute love however this is quickly proven to be not true in the next line “Not a red rose or a satin heart” - the not being very bold
Imagery
The main imagery is the extended metaphor on the onion which each shows different emotions/ stages of love
1st - the skin - beautiful and “careful”
2nd - first layers - sadness and grief
3rd - eating - “possessive and faithful”
4th - end - “lethal” or wedding or they are the same thing
Imagery continued
“cling to your fingers, cling to your knife”
powerful and disturbing image
inescapable and has the power to wound
“It promises light”
-the start is normally hopeful and beautiful
Language - “not”
-use of “not” - dismantles the idea of a romantic poem immediately shows how unconventional it is which reinforces that it is trying to tell the truth
“I am trying to be truthful”
Language continued - alliteration
“red rose”
“cute card or kissogram”
- the alliteration of these objects makes it seem overly sentimental and makes the narrator seem disdainful of them
Languange - use of direct address
-first person and directly addresses an unknown partner as “you” - makes it personal. “Take it” makes it sound forceful
Language - use of dark negative language
“blind” “fierce” “lethal”
unusual amount of negative language for a love poem. The speaker implies that this is a possessive relationship - “knife” at the end hints it can be dangerous
Tone
Honest/defiant
- cynical to cliched approaches
- valentine has become too commercial and not about true love
“I am trying to be truthful”
Structure - enjambment
-used to break up similies, it makes the poem feel disjointed and also emphasises the unpredictability of the similies and of love
“I will blind you with tears / Like a lover”
Structure - end stopping
- endstopping, especially in the final stanza makes it sound more factual rather than romantic
- also the short sentences can make it seem abrupt and sometimes threatening
Structure - different from other love poems
- written in stanzas of varying length
- lines are also irregular
Structure - progression
moves from playful to confrontational due to the speakers repeated insistence of taking the onion
