Imagery In Duffy's Poems 'Ariel And Mean Time'

Compare the ways in which Plath and Duffy use a range of imagery to express their ideas in Ariel and Mean Time

Both poets, Duffy and Plath explore different ideas through the use of imagery. Duffy in poems such as Havisham and Valentine explores contrasting ideas of love, using imagery to show both the lasting effect of heartbreak in Havisham, and the realistic feelings of love and commitment in Valentine. Plath however uses imagery to express the peacefulness and euphoric state found in having a lack of responsibility in Tulips, and in You’re uses imagery to communicate the unconditional love she feels towards her unborn child.

Both Duffy and Plath use imagery very differently in Duffy’s Havisham the imagery is used to aid the creation of a distinct persona, whereas Plath uses imagery based on her own personal experience in both Tulips and You’re. In Havisham, the persona of the spinster character Miss Havisham …show more content…
Duffy’s Havisham expresses massive amounts of anger due to the use of distinct persona; Duffy communicates this anger to the readers through the use of the metaphor ‘ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with’. This metaphor, as well as using the concrete noun ‘ropes’ to refer to Miss Havisham’s aged physical appearance by comparing it to the veins on the back of her hands, also communicates vengeful anger through the use of the verb ‘strangle’. Elsewhere in the poem, Duffy also uses the verb ‘stabbed’; this has obvious violent connotations, and contributes to the theme of extreme anger throughout the poem. Another technique used to create a sense of violence is the single onomatopoeia of "Bang". Similarly the repetition of the letter ‘b’ that creates the effect of stammering on the last word of the poem is powerful, suggesting both the length of time her heart has been broken and the possibility of a stabbing, violent action towards the