Valentine

Carol Ann Duffy

Valentine

• Explores the subject of love by describing a gift for a lover – an onion – a more powerful gift than the clichéd valentine gift as it shows some thought. The onion becomes a metaphor for love and the poem is an extended metaphor.

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

• Sentence structure – beginning with ‘Not’ - emphasises the negative contrast with the stereotypical gift. This shows a dismissive attitude to this type of gift. It will not be an idealised, meaningless version of love.

• Alliteration of ‘r’ sound – not many examples in the poem but generally found in reference to a stereotypical gift suggesting its predictability.

I give you an onion.Very simple sentence structure which stresses the everyday nature of the gift.

It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.Metaphor – comparing the shape and colour of an onion to the moon

• The moon is associated with romance• Brown paper supports the idea of this being a gift

It promises lightlike the careful undressing of love.

• Light is associated with truth, faith, beauty, innocence, etc, therefore it has very positive, hopeful connotations, light the optimism of a new relationship.

• Could refer to the literal undressing of lovers or the metaphorical undressing of love itself – like the layers of an onion, which is discovered the deeper one explores the relationship.

• ‘careful’ reminder that you must be cautious/tender with love to get the benefit – as you would with an onion

Here.• Use of the imperative. A one word sentence which

signifies the moment the gift is handed over - this is given without ceremony.

It will blind you with tearslike a lover.• Simile – comparing the ability that onions have to

make your eyes water to the ability that love will have to break your heart and cause you much hurt – ‘make you cry’

• Word choice – ‘blind’- a reminder that love can make you ignore a person’s faults and everything else going on around you.

It will make your reflection A wobbling photo of grief.• Love may make you unable to see yourself

clearly. In love, you can easily loose your sense of yourself and be all too willing to submit your will to theirs and/or rely on their judgement rather than your own.

• ‘wobbling photo’ carries on the idea that you cannot see properly because of tears

• ‘grief’ suggests loss of some sort

I am trying to be truthful.• The isolation of this line emphasises how

important honesty is for the speaker.• This idea is contrasted with the next line – also

in isolationNot a cute card or a kissogram.• The structure of this sentence is repeated

from the first line – like the repeating rings in an onion. The same comments would follow – negative given emphasis and the use of alliteration.

I give you an onion.• Another repetition – of the second line, further

emphasising the echoing pattern of rings within the onionIts fierce kiss will stay on your lips,Word choice ‘fierce’ suggests passion. Just as the literal

smell/taste of an onion will linger because of its strength, so too will the emotions of love stay with you and be remembered.

possessive and faithfulContrasting the negative and positive aspects of love – a

reminder that the speaker is being honest, having a loyal partner often comes at the cost of someone who is also ‘possessive’ – with connotations of domination/ownership

as we are, for as long as we are.• ‘as we are’ what? Possessive and faithful or

existing? Left open for the reader to interpret. • The speaker is resisting the temptation to slip

into another cliché in promising everlasting love.

Take it.Another use of the imperative/command – suggests a

confidence in the speaker.Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring, Relationships are often symbolised by rings and the

speaker is suggesting the shape of the onion as you get to the centre (the deeper layers of the onion and love) will make a symbol of commitment. Platinum is a precious metal, not dissimilar in colour to an onion, indicating this gift is of genuine value

if you like.the recipient/object of affection is given the power to

accept or decline within the relationship – suggests an uncertainty about whether they want the relationship/the commitment

Lethal.Suggestion of danger – the more committed, the

more you have gone ‘out on a limb’ for someone, the more vulnerable you become, the more you can get hurt if the relationship fails. It suggests this is almost life-threatening. In many romantic dramas, like ‘Romeo and Juliet’, it is ‘lethal’.

The use of a one word sentence gives the idea of the dangerous side of love greater emphasis.

It’s scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife.• In the same way that the smell of an onion will stay with you,

even if you wash your hands, you will not be able to ‘wash away’ the effects of love. It will remain.

• ‘cling’ links back to the idea of love being ‘possessive – conveys the idea of someone desperate to hold on to you. Repetition in the last line strengthens this thought of being too dependent on someone.

• That the scent will remain on your ‘fingers’ may be linking back to the idea of making a ring out of its loops or from cutting the onion.

• ‘knife’ – last word of the poem – sense that love is dangerous – because of possessiveness? Or because the reader will ‘cut’ the speaker/break up with her? This emphasises the speaker’s vulnerability in offering her love.

Form and Structure• Free verse• Each stanza is short – several are only one line• The form echoes the from of an onion – several thin

layers. The verses/layers progress from the brown outer shell to the small rings in the heart of the onion as we go deeper into the poet’s feelings about love.

• The use of repetition of words or lines create a pattern which represents both the ongoing love and the layers of the onion.

• This follows in a tradition of ‘list’ poems – it says what an onion is and then tells you what it is like.

• Poem uses first person narrative• A direct address to ‘you’ – creates a sense of an

intimate conversation – one-sided dialogue, though; we can only imagine what the recipient would say.

Tone• Confident through use of simple language and

some imperative sentences• Use of future tense, ‘it will blind you’ etc, gives

the impression the speaker is in control, yet there is also a sense of vulnerability and a warning about danger.

Attitudes, themes, ideas

• Cynical about love – does not promise to last forever, only as long as they are both ‘possessive and faithful’

• Love is dangerous/painful.• The love that the speaker is offering is better

than the showy kinds of love (which would not propose in such an off-hand manner) – it is truthful and genuine, even if it is like an everyday object.