The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.
Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute
beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate
with a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.
Better off dead than giving in, not taking
what you want He weighed a ton; his torso,
frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill
piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough.
Sometimes I steal things I don't need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.
I'm a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera.
I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob.
A stranger's bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this -Aah.
It took some time. Reassembled in the yard,
he didn't look the same. I took a run
and booted him Again. Again. My breath ripped out
in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing
alone amongst lumps of snow, sick of the world.
Boredom. Mostly I'm so bored I could eat myself.
One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once,
flogged it, but the snowman was strangest.
You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?
‘Stealing’
Carol Ann Duffy
Listen to the poem:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetduffy/stealingrev2.shtml
This poem is a dramatic monologue. The speaker is an anti-social figure who
steals things because they are bored. Duffy is NOT the speaker in this poem,
she writes it because this happened to her neighbours, and she was trying to
understand the person who stole the snowman. Tone: casual, talking tone.
Enjambment- effect? Why?
Onomatopoeic- effect?
The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.
Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute
beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate
with a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.
Brutal imagerydoes slice connect
with head?
The speaker wants a “mate”. This suggests that
he is an isolated figure. The speaker seems
emotionally cold – he has no feelings “a mind as
cold as the slice of ice within my own brain”.
Simile- effect?
Onomatopoeicwas s/he looking
for sympathy?
Help?
Negative,
destructive
language
Better off dead than giving in, not taking
what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso,
frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill
piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough.
ENJAMBEMENT???
Effect?
Metaphor-effect?
Sometimes I steal things I don't need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.
I'm a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera.
I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob.
A stranger's bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this -Aah.
Disconnected
from him/her?
Onomatopoeiawhy?
This line almost sounds like
the speaker in the poem is
acting – he is thinking about
his ‘performance’. He is
detached from reality.
Is s/he
aware of
doing
stealing?
Boredom?
Script, rather
than real
life?
It took some time. Reassembled in the yard,
he didn't look the same. I took a run
and booted him Again. Again. My breath ripped out
in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing
alone amongst lumps of snow, sick of the world.
Repetition of short
sentences
continually
throughout the
poem- why? Effect?
Isolated? Alone?
Sorry? Feeling
sorry for them?
Onomatopoeiaeffect?
Boredom. Mostly I'm so bored I could eat myself.
One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once,
flogged it, but the snowman was strangest.
You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?
The poem ends with a question. This
suggests that nothing has been resolved in
the poem. The speaker in the poem still
feels isolated.
Structure
• Although the poem is written in five equal Stanzas, there
is no regularity in the lines. Why? What might this
symbolise? The irregularity of the stealer’s life?
• Sometimes the end of one line runs into the next line
(enjambment). What is the effect of enjambment in
these examples?
• I joy-ride cars / to nowhere
• I took a run / and booted him again
• My breath ripped out / in rags
• In each case, the line breaks 'act out' what is being
described.
Language
• Although the poem is about I, it is not the poet herself
who is talking to us. Do you think the poem is told in the
voice of a man or a woman, a boy or a girl? There is no
way of telling - it is deliberately ambiguous, a mystery
voice.
• The poet appears to be responding to a question
someone has asked. 'The most unusual thing I ever
stole?' S/he continues to 'talk' to the reader throughout
the poem and so the language of the poem sounds like
natural speech. S/he asks us to respond ('You don't
understand a word I'm saying, do you?') and so we feel
directly involved.
Language
• The speaker glamorises themselves and what
they have done, almost as if they are imagining
themselves as the star of a film. At times s/he
even seems to be speaking lines from a script: 'I
sigh like this - Aah.'
• Some of the language is violent and
destructive. 'The slice of ice within my own
brain. ''My breath ripped out in rags.'‘ I'm so
bored I could eat myself.' It shocks and surprises
us. Is this perhaps to emphasise the lack of
order in the speaker's life?
Imagery and sound
• The central image is that of the snowman alone
in someone's empty yard in the middle of the
night - an image of dark and icy cold:
.. beneath the winter moon ..
.. a mind as cold as the slice of ice / within
my own brain ..
.. frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce
chill / piercing my gut ..
• How does this image add to the impact of
the poem?
• Well, there is an obvious parallel between
the ice-cold snowman, alone in his yard,
and the speaker,
'.. standing / alone among lumps of snow ..'
• The parallel is underlined by the speaker
themselves when they describe the 'ice within
my own brain', and the 'chill piercing my gut' - as
if the snowman is inside them, as well as on the
outside. The snowman, in other words, stands
as a Symbol for the cold and loneliness of the
speaker's own situation. Because the speaker
smashes the snowman up ('booted him. Again.
Again') it is also symbolic of his or her selfdestructive behaviour.
Sound
• The poem replicates natural speech, so
that we can 'hear' the voice of the speaker
talking to us - especially since s/he asks
us direct questions. We can even hear the
pauses as s/he adds details to the story. 'A
snowman. / Midnight.'
Ideas
• What the poet is trying to say in this poem? All the
following ideas are contained in the poem: it's down to
you to decide which you think are the most important.
• She is sympathising with the speaker - who is obviously
lonely and bored and needs someone to pay attention to
him/her.
• She is trying to understand why anyone would want to
commit a senseless crime. If there is enough snow for
someone to have made a snowman, surely there is
enough snow for the speaker to have made one too, so
why steal one?
• She is examining someone else's attitude to life
- 'Better off dead than giving in.'
• We are shown the speaker's loneliness (s/he
needs the snowman as a 'mate'; s/he is 'alone'.
• We see how the writer regards him or herself as
a failure - 'I stole a guitar once and thought I
might learn to play' - who cannot succeed in an
'ordinary' way.
• We see the speaker's pessimistic attitude:
although they'd like their life to be glamorous,
they are reduced to getting kicks from stealing a
snowman and 'things I don't need'.