‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy
Not a red rose or a satin heart.
I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.
Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.
I am trying to be truthful.
Not a cute card or a kissogram.
I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.
Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.
Approaching the Essay
Step 1:
Think about the task/question. In this case, the question is as
follows:
Choose a poem which increased your understanding of any aspect
of life in the modern world.
State what aspect of life in the modern world the poem illustrates
and go on to show how the poem, both by its content and by its
style, increased your understanding.
Now, mind-map your ideas for key points you wish to make about
the poem.
Step 2:
A vital part of your essay will involve the analysis of quotations. For
each point you wish to raise you must gather relevant evidence
from the text. Remember that you can use more than one quote
per paragraph.
Step 3:
Develop a plan, following the PEE or a similar format. It is at this
point that you need to think about the comments you will make
about your quotations. In each paragraph, it should be clear how
this ‘answers’ your question/task.
Step 4:
You should now have prepared enough material to help you begin
your essay. Keep the criteria in mind at all times, remembering that
you must balance your explanation of what is said with how it is
said.
Essay Plan – Example
‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy
Task/Question:
A study of how in the poem ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy explores the nature
and effect of modern relationships.
Introduction:
Remember title, author and reference to task. Introduce idea that
Duffy is challenging the traditional view of Valentine’s day and
aiming to present a more ‘realistic’ view of love through this
extended metaphor.
Paragraph 1: From the first line of the poem, it is clear that the
speaker in this poem wishes to reject modern symbols of love and
romance.
Evidence: Sentence inversion; focus on ‘Not’. Repeated in poem.
Reference to typical symbols/gifts.
Explanation: Duffy is aiming to show they are meaningless; her gift
seems unusual but presents opportunity to reflect real experience.
Paragraph 2: Through an extended image of an onion, Duffy
explores both the positive and negative aspects of love.
Evidence: Begins with positive. Comparison with ‘moon’ suggests
romance, something heavenly. ‘wrapped in brown paper’ implies a
gift.
Explanation: Recognising that love can still bring joy and is still
worth chasing. Effect of relationship remains something positive.
Paragraph 3: However, as Duffy continues to develop this
comparison, she reflects on the painful nature of love.
Evidence: Reference to physical and emotional pain; ‘blind you
with tears’ and makes vision ‘a wobbling photograph of grief’.
Explanation: Love can alter judgment and can distress. Aim to alter
purpose of Valentine poem now to recognize true nature and
effect.
Paragraph 4: The image of the onion is then used to reflect upon
the powerful nature of love.
Evidence: Word choice in ‘fierce kiss’ and ‘possessive and faithful’.
Explanation: Relationships can be consuming, with possibility of
obsession or true commitment. It can be both frightening and
rewarding.
Paragraph 5: Towards the end of the poem, Duffy begins to
suggest that failed relationships can be difficult to overcome.
Evidence: word choice of ‘lethal’ and repetition of word ‘cling’
Explanation:
suggests
love
can
cause
death
literally/metaphorically. Once experienced, relationships often hard
to forget and can remain part of you.
Conclusion: Clear that Duffy feels the gestures of Valentine’s day
have become hollow and meaningless. Traditional representations
of love no longer reflect what relationships can be like. Metaphor of
onion used as vessel – reflects experience.
Exemplar Critical Essay: ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann
Duffy.
Throughout our history it has been clear that our
relationships are a vital part of human life. In particular, our desire
for love and the influence this has on our lives has constantly been
the subject of literature. Whilst relationships may have not
changed dramatically, our views on relationships have changed. In
the poem ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy challenges the modern
representation of love and relationships promoted on February 14th
and aims to give a more ‘realistic’ view of what love can potentially
bring.
From the first line of the poem, it is clear that the speaker in
this poem wishes to reject modern symbols of love and romance.
Sentence inversion is used effectively to focus our attention on the
word ‘Not’ as the speaker informs their lover that the Valentine’s
gift they bring will not be ‘a red rose or a Satin heart.’ This pattern
is repeated later in the poem which highlights the need the
speaker feels to avoid the hollow symbols typically associated with
Valentine’s. This rejection highlights the idea that these gifts have
become meaningless and so common that they no longer signify
genuine affection.
Through an extended image of an onion, Duffy explores both
the positive and negative aspects of love. At first, the speaker
highlights that modern relationships can still be rewarding. The
onion is described as a ‘moon wrapped in brown paper’ which
leads us to compare it to a gift. The colour brown suggests that
love may not seem an extravagant gift at first, yet with time it can
be seen to reveal something more heavenly, suggested by
reference to the ‘moon’. It is clear that Duffy does not deny that
modern relationships can still present us with something divine and
is something we should still chase.
However, as Duffy continues to develop this comparison, she
reflects on the painful nature of love. It is at this point that the
association of the onion is used most effectively. Like an onion,
love is said to ‘blind you with tears.’ The speaker suggests how
extreme this upset can be, turning vision into ‘a wobbling photo of
grief.’ Here, love is seen as debilitating and also emotionally
devastating. Rather than continue to support the traditional
‘Valentine’ and the view it presents of relationships, Duffy presents
a more modern acceptance that love can cause distress.
The image of the onion is then used to reflect upon the
powerful nature of love. The speaker describes love as having a
‘fierce kiss’ like an onion, suggesting it can be overwhelming and
sometimes frighteningly strong. Similarly, as the scent of an onion
can be seen as hard to remove, love too can be seen as
‘possessive and faithful.’ It is at this point that Duffy again draws
our attention to the contrasting sides of relationships. The word
‘possessive’ suggests a sinister side of love; that it can lead to
obsession, whilst the word ‘faithful’ gives a more positive feeling
that love can bring security and trust. Again, Duffy appears to be
using her comparison to present the dual nature of love and reflect
that relationships will not always remain so pleasing.
Towards the end of the poem, Duffy begins to suggest that
failed relationships can be difficult to overcome. In the final verse,
Duffy goes as far as to suggest that love may be ‘lethal’ which
itself suggests that the loss of a lover can cause some part of you
to die or perhaps more sinisterly that it may lead to suicide. The
idea that our relationships may be difficult to forget is introduced by
the repetition of the word ‘cling’. This links back to the idea that
love can be ‘possessive’ in the sense that the memories we have
of lost loves can hold on to us, despite our best efforts to forget. It
is accepted that in modern society many relationships may come
to an end and that one person may have a number of relationships
in a lifetime. Rather than continuing to promote the traditional
symbols of love as something constantly beautiful, here we see it
as something potentially dangerous.
When reading this poem, it becomes clear that Duffy has a
modern view on what it means to be in a relationship and what it
can bring. Her use of extended metaphor of the onion effectively
allows her to highlight the joys and sorrows that the gift of love can
bring us. The startling idea of this simple yet unusual valentine gift
is in fact an ideal symbol for what we have come to accept as the
ups and downs of modern relationships.