Stealing, Carol Ann Duffy
How the poem is written
The poem uses the first person and is written in free verse as
a dramatic monologue.
Theme
The poet explores the psychology of an anti-social character.
He attempts to explain himself but reveals how far removed he
is from the “normal” reader. We can sympathise with his viewpoint but he
remains an unpleasant and disturbed character. The poem contrasts those who
make things and those who only destroy them. The thief wants to do things to
escape his boredom but hasn’t the willpower or self-discipline to do them (like
learning the guitar).
Key images – the snowman – children built it, but the thief cannot make it look
the same, so he destroys it; the bust of Shakespeare – contrasts the creative and
social with the destructive and anti-social.
Overview of the poem
Carol Ann Duffy wrote this poem in the 1980s after her neighbours had their
snowman stolen. The historical context is also important. 1980s Britain was a
time when there was high unemployment and uncertainty. The character in this
poem reflects the uncertainty of the times.
The structure of the poem doesn’t follow a specific rhyming scheme. It replicates
speech and so many of the lines flow onto the next. There are some internal
rhymes within it such as “head” (line 5) and “dead” (line 6) and “chill” (line 8) and
“thrill” (line 9) and these words stand out for their rhyme but also their content.
The words show the reader on the criminal’s mind-set that of someone who is
disturbed. Many of the lines run on which also helps recreate the pattern of
speech. Further more through the use of caesura (pauses created by full stops)
the speech mirrors realistic dialogue.
The very first line hooks the reader in with a question when the persona says,
“The most unusual thing I ever stole?” (Line 1)
This then becomes his platform to speak and explain how his mind works. He
talks about the snowman and the coldness of the snowman mirrors the speaker’s
state of mind. There is something childlike and lonely about someone who wants
the snowman for a “mate.” This creates sympathy but it quickly disappears when
he says,
“With a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.” (Lines 4 and 5)
Comparing himself to an inanimate object shows his lack of compassion.
Snowmen are associated with happy children spending time building them. The
fact the thief robs them of their creation shows his jealousy. Even though moving
the snow is freezing and hard work, he is pleased because he knows there will
be suffering. This is indicated when he says,
“…Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life’s tough.” (Lines 9 and 10)
This hints that life has been difficult for the speaker and he wants other people to
experience the harshness of life. At the same time these two lines make him
easy to dislike because of his attitude.
In the same way as speech, the persona changes the direction of discussion and
begins to brag about all the other items he has stolen and the reasons behind
them such as boredom and lack of purpose in his life.
He says,
“Sometimes I steal things I don’t need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.” (Lines 11 and 12)
This illustrates how he enjoys hurting people, he wants to take a car but doesn’t
know where he is going, like his future, and he nosily wants to see how other
people live and mess up the house so they know he has been. He then returns to
the topic of the snowman and says,
“It took some time. Reassembled in the yard
he didn’t look the same.” (Lines 16 and 17)
Taking a snowman that is not something permanent, shows us his mentality, he
hasn’t time to think or consider his actions. He just does things to take away the
boredom and when the snowman fails to look as it should he destroys it anyway
in frustration. Because he is “sick of the world”
The last stanza again moves on to the different kinds of things he has stolen.
Inside he wants to do something, to learn something but doesn’t have the means
of developing his creativity. When the persona says,
“One time I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play.” (Lines 22 and 23)
He is trying to justify why he stole each item but the reader knows he is someone
who likes to steal people’s joy. This alienates the reader from the character. After
glorifying his actions and confessing how and why he stole things he realises that
the person or people he is talking to can’t understand his motives. This is shown
in the final line.
“You don’t understand a word I’m saying do, you?” (Line 25)
Even his confession is worthless because he can’t express why he is a thief.
Overall this is a contemporary poem with a social commentary about the society
in which the speaker lives and the kind of person it has created.
Key Quotes Explained
Starts with a question in line 1 - interacts with audience - challenges and gains
interest
"Midnight" - image of darkness, night - links to perceptions of thieves and nighttime.
"mute" - silent and unanswering, personification of object that is the snowman.
No interaction with this except on physical level (identifies persona's social
difficulties?)
"mate" - friend/sexual partner/soulmate? -speaker able to identify with the
inanimate snowman. Their minds are compares in simile form as both being cold
like
ice - cold mind, reserved, indifferent, uncaring of people's reactions to his/her
actions.
"Better off dead" - identifies own moral structure, that taking what you want to
take is acceptable - outside mores of society. This is character's way of life,
stealing for the thrill, to feel alive.
Lines 7-9 - Difficulty of stealing and moving the snowman illustrates and
enhances the feeling of futility in the character’s actions. Huge effort to steal
something that has no monetary worth. The snowman's only value lies within the
feelings that it invokes in both the thief and the victims.
"fierce chill" - character gets to feel through his/her actions, gains some sort of
emotional response (unattainable in 'normal' circumstances?)
"Part of the thrill" - the character steals with the full knowledge of the upset that
his/her actions will cause the victims. Identifies the cruelty and selfishness of
his/her actions and tat this is the motivation for the theft.
"Life's tough" - using this as an excuse for actions, absolving self of blame.
Possible feeling that is doing the children a favour - teaching the about the 'real
world.'
"Ghost" - like a spirit, malevolent image, insubstantial thing (as snowman is hence attraction to it?). Ghost is something outside of society, unacceptable.
"leave a mess" - character deliberately defiles people's homes - part of cruelty
and thrill derived from other's misery and suffering.
"gloved hand" - shows intelligence, leaves no fingerprints. Also a separation
from his victims, has no direct physical contact with them or their things, has a
barrier between himself and these others in society.
"Mirrors" - image of insubstantiality - reflections formed by mirrors, links to ghost
and snowman.
"I sigh like this - Aah" - character gains relief/freedom/sense of worth from
actions (Has found own place in society?).
Lines 16-18 - Act of stealing and reassembling ruins the snowman so act is in
this sense worthless. Destruction of snowman follows. This could have been
done at the original site, with the same effect on the children who built it, so why
move it at all? It is this that identifies fully the speaker’s need to steal for kicks, as
it is only this that could explain the reasons behind the actions. Was the original
intention to destroy the snowman?
"It seems daft now" - realises futility but makes no apology for actions identifies the need for something to permeate the intense boredom felt.
"Alone" - key word, no place in society, like the ghost he/she is compared to,
insubstantial within society?
"Sick of the world" - no place within the world and no reasons to act as it
dictates. Is this dislike of the world an excuse for the actions, a reason for the
actions, the cause of the actions or an effect of the actions?
"eat myself" - intense image of boredom. Would harm self to overcome
boredom and is doing so. Not in such an overt way but in a more subtle
psychological way. Through actions is harming self as is further distancing self
from others and causing self to be more alone, and therefore more bored and out
of place. The image is an identification of the speaker’s life, boredom, punctuated
only by random acts of vandalism, theft and cruelty. There is no meaning to
his/her actions other than to satisfy and entertain at other's expense.
Ends with another question that is an even more overt challenge to the reader.
Shows that the character considers him/her self to be misunderstood and alone,
that his/her experience is something outside of normal understanding and
comprehension. Possibly this is some sort of way of excusing him/her self for
his/her actions.