Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

SUBJECT
1. a gift for a lover
2. an onion is a powerful gift of love
3. onion is a metaphor for love = poem is about love and gifts
FORM AND STRUCTURE
1. free verse
2. form echoes the form of an onion = layers
3. unconventional structure
  1. Duffy's unconventional view
4. first person narrative
THEMES AND IDEAS
1. dismisses cliche ideas of love
2. love is dangerous
  1. death of the relationship
    1. 'knife'
3. against marriage
4. unwanted
  1. 'cling'
LANGUAGE
1. simple and straight-forward
  1. honest like love
    1. doesn't need to be 'dressed up' in order for it to be special
2. 'I give you an onion'
  1. repeated
    1. reinstating point
    2. struggle at first but then understand and accept it
  2. people won't want usual gift so have to be forced upon them
LINGUISTIC TECHNIQUES
1. alliteration
  1. 'cute card' and 'red rose'
2. lack of rhyme
  1. unconventional view
IMAGERY
1. ROMANTIC
  1. metaphor of 'moon'
    1. glowing feeling at start of relationship
  2. 'brown paper'
    1. gift
2. 'not a...'
  1. dismissing cliches
    1. DIFFERENT kind of valentine
3. DANGER
  1. 'blind you with tears'
  2. 'fierce kiss'
  3. 'lethal'
  4. 'knife'
  5. possessive

Resource summary

	Created by serinatatham almost 10 years ago