English- Valentine

Front 1

Who is the poet?

Back 1

Carol Ann Duffy

Front 2

Context

Back 2

Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955) is a Scottish poet, and is currently the UK’s first female (and first Scottish) Poet Laureate. Born in Glasgow, she moved with her family to Stafford when she was 7, where she was educated. She wrote poetry from an early age, and was first published at the age of 15. She has since written plays, critical works, and several volumes of poetry.

Duffy’s poetry is often feminist in its themes and approach. Her collection The World’s Wife took characters from history, literature and mythology and gave them a female point of view, as a sister, a wife or a feminised version of a character.

Front 3

Subject matter

Back 3

Valentine describes a gift for a lover, such as you would give on Valentine’s Day. It is a rather unusual present – an onion. The poem explains why it is a powerful gift of love, much more than the clichéd roses or box of chocolates.

The onion becomes a metaphor for love, and so the poem is about love as well as Valentine gifts.

Front 4

What is the structure of the poem?

Back 4

The poem is written in free verse. Each stanza is very short, and several are only one line long. This form echoes the form of an onion itself, and the layers that go to make it up. There is a sense in which Valentine is within the tradition of list poems, as the speaker tells you what the onion is, and then what it is like.

Front 5

The poem is what narrative ?

Back 5

The poem is a first person narrative, in the form of a direct address to "you". We don’t know who the "you" is, but perhaps, as it’s the kind of person who would normally receive a "cute card" it’s a woman.

Front 6

Describe the sound used in the poem

Back 6

The only alliteration in the poem is in the "cute card" and the "red rose" – the clichéd Valentines. Is Duffy implying something about the over use of alliteration in love poems?

Although there is no rhyme in the poem, there are some places where repeated structures mean that words are repeated, echoing each other. This represents both their ongoing love and the layers of the onion.

Front 7

Give and analyse the imagery in the poem

Back 7

Valentine begins with a mixture of grand romantic imagery – the metaphor of the "moon" – and the everyday – the "brown paper" the moon is wrapped in. The very first stanza of the poem dismisses the clichéd, normal gifts of love, indicating that this will be a different kind of valentine.

There is a strong sense of danger in the imagery of the poem. The onion will "blind you with tears", which is a comparison – using a simile – to what a lover will do, and even in affection there is a sense of danger in its "fierce kiss". This culminates in the single word sentence in the middle of the final stanza: "Lethal". This is emphasised by the fact that the final word of the poem is "knife". There is a sense that love can be dangerous, perhaps in its possessiveness.

This is reflected in the idea that light is promised by the "careful undressing of love" – you must be careful with love to get its benefit, just as you must be careful with the onion. Throughout the poem the onion is a metaphor for love, developed in different ways. There is also an ambiguity in the poem as to whether "it" refers to the onion or to love.

Front 8

What are the attitudes, themes and ideas of the poem ?

Back 8

The narrator of the poem dismisses clichéd ideas of love with the two single line stanzas that begin with the word "not". There is an attitude in the poem that normal Valentines are not as honest as this one. The two single line stanzas in the middle of the poem contrast the idea of truthfulness with clichéd cards or kissograms. It is also more cynical about love: rather than promising to last forever, this Valentine will merely last as long as the two of them are possessive and faithful, like the onion. This is an unusual attitude for a love poem.

This, combined with the theme of love as being dangerous, makes for an unsettling tone to the poem. However, there is a sense that this is a more genuine and useful present, which suggests a practical love. The offer of a wedding-ring, in an offhand manner, also reinforces the idea that truthful love is the better sort.