Compare And Contrast Language Techniques In Valentine By Carol Ann Duffy

In the poems, Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy and Let me describe for you her eyes by Glenn Colquhoun, the writers have used many different language techniques to show their thoughts on relationships. In Valentine, Carol Ann Duffy uses metaphors and personification to communicate her ideas about love. She thinks that love isn’t always good and joyful and can be miserable and heart breaking. In Let me describe for you her eyes, Glenn Colquhoun uses metaphors and similes to let the readers know his ideas and perspective on love. He shows that love can cause a lot of pain and it doesn’t always turn out the way you want. Look at introduction instructions

Metaphors help to show the speaker’s thoughts on love. Carol Ann Duffy and Glenn Colquhoun …show more content…
In Let me describe for you her eyes by Glenn Colquhoun, a gun shot was compared to the pain the speaker’s lover caused him. Carol Ann Duffy chooses an onion to represent love because it is unusual and helps the speaker feel their love is unique and not clichéd. Using an onion is surprising because an onion is not something that many people would use to symbolise love. Most people would think of a red rose or a satin heart but Carol Ann Duffy thinks that it is clichéd. An onion can represent love because love can give you a warm and happy feeling except it can also break your heart and make you cry. An onion can do the same, it tastes really good but when your cutting it, it gives you tears. The outer wrapping of an onion is dirty and unattractive, but there are rings on the inside that can represent getting through all of the complicated parts of the relationship before finding happiness. In Let me describe for you her eyes, the line “Her eyes were two guns” is explaining that the way she looked at the …show more content…
The meaning of the line “timid as a small boy cleaning his gun,” is to show how frightened the woman was when she saw what she had done to the person she loves. She was being compared to a scared little boy cleaning his gun. A little boy would be scared to clean a gun; they would be scared to even hold a gun. They wouldn’t know if it would go off, they probably shouldn’t even be holding a gun. The woman was compared to a small timid boy because she had metaphorically shot her lover which caused him to be run over by cars and poked with sticks. All of this is because of the pain his lover caused him. She looked scared because she didn’t think before she spoke and she regretted what she said to him. The damage had already been done. The speaker is in so much pain that he is dying and she wish she hadn’t had done what she did. The man is feeling confused and wondering why she would do that to him because he thought that she loved him. They were both wondering why that had done what they did. Even though she has given him the most pain he has had in his life, he was still under her control because he was so in love with her. The poet has used this simile to show that the woman is feeling guilty and scared. Glenn Colquhoun has shown us with this simile that she is frightened and she shouldn’t be standing over him watching him die because she should have never hurt him like