Why did Carol Ann Duffy write Valentine? Carol Ann Duffy composed "Valentine" after being requested by a radio producer to write an original poem for St. Valentine's Day. Duffy enjoys breaking norms, and in Valentine she criticizes society's beliefs on materialism.
Full Answer
What is the purpose of the poem valentine?
Valentine is from a collection of poems entitled Mean Time (1993), and expresses love and affection in the form of a conceit whereby the symbol of love being offered by the speaker is an unconventional onion.
What is Duffy's poem valentine about?
Duffy's poem 'Valentine' tackles both the consumerist, modern day view of Valentine's Day, and the traditional preconceptions of love and relationships. She uses a range of metaphors to express her unconventional love and relationship, including that of an onion.
What is the message of the poem text by Carol Ann Duffy?
'Text' by Carol Ann Duffy is a short poem on the poetic feelings regarding the modern format of communication, “texting”. Carol Ann Duffy discusses how she feels while texting her dear ones in her poem, 'Text'. At the beginning of the poem, the poetess reads some messages on her mobile phone repetitively.
How does Duffy present love in valentine essay?
Duffy explores the positive feelings associated love throughout her poem and contrasts them with reminders of the downsides too. Her description of an onion as a “moon” that “promises light” shows her to be optimistic of what the relationship could become, the verb 'promise' suggesting faithfullness and unity.
What type of poem is valentine?
The poem is written in free verse using irregular stanzas to support its content and purpose, which is to reject traditional restrictive conventions such as marriage and other notions of love and to warn lovers that being overly possessive can have undesirable consequences.
When was the poem valentine written?
The “valentine” itself was actually a few lines in a poem, written by Charles, the Duke of Orléans, in 1415, when he was 21 years old. Charles grew up in the fractious French royal family.
What are Carol Ann Duffy's poems about?
Anne HathawayLittle Red CapHavishamEducation for LeisureElvis's Twin SisterLast PostCarol Ann Duffy/Poems
What is Carol Ann Duffy known for?
Carol Ann Duffy is an award-winning Scottish poet who, according to Danette DiMarco in Mosaic, is the poet of “post-post war England: Thatcher's England.” Duffy is best known for writing love poems that often take the form of monologues.
When was text by Carol Ann Duffy written?
2005A poem for the texting generation Carol Ann Duffy's short poem 'Text' might be the first great poem written about texting and text messages. It appeared in her 2005 collection Rapture .
In what ways does Duffy make valentine such a powerful expression of love?
The poet spurns traditional expressions of love in favor of a nontraditional Valentine's Day gift, claiming that it symbolized love in a much more realistic way than roses or heart-shaped candies. 'Valentine' uses an everyday ordinary object, the onion, to represent her deepest feelings and most abstract thoughts.
What does I give you an onion mean?
The poem starts off with a positive statement 'Not a red rose, or a satin heart'. She states that she will not give her lover a normal valentine present. The poet has chosen to give her lover an onion. She uses the onion as a metaphor for her love.
Why does the speaker of the poem valentine present their love with an onion?
The speaker of the poem offers her lover an onion as a Valentine gift. This is clearly not a conventional gift like satin hearts or roses; nevertheless she gives an onion because it represents her love in many different ways.
What are Carol Ann Duffy's poems about?
Anne HathawayLittle Red CapHavishamEducation for LeisureElvis's Twin SisterLast PostCarol Ann Duffy/Poems
What is the tone of the poem valentine?
Duffy starts the poem in a negative tone which is unusual when describing love. She rejects the traditional symbols of love and is forceful in her opinion of this. The whole poem is based around the idea that love is an onion. She takes pride in this presentation .
What does I give you an onion mean?
The poem starts off with a positive statement 'Not a red rose, or a satin heart'. She states that she will not give her lover a normal valentine present. The poet has chosen to give her lover an onion. She uses the onion as a metaphor for her love.
In what ways does Duffy make this poem such a powerful expression of love?
In this intense love poem Duffy rejects traditional symbols of love, such as 'red roses' or 'satin hearts' in favour of 'an onion'. This suggests Duffy is criticising conventional ideas and empty gestures of love. She is promising her lover, and the reader that her love is more original, honest and true.
Who wrote, ‘Valentine’ (1993)?
Carol Ann Duffy
Who wrote, ‘Valentine’ (1993)?
Carol Ann Duffy
Why was the poem initially written?
The poem was initially written after a radio producer asked Duffy to write an original piece of Valentine’s Day.
When was the poem first published?
The poem was first published in 1993 in the collection Mean Time .
True or false: the poem is a sonnet.
False! This poem is written in free verse. A sonnet is a single stanza of 14 lines.
True or false: ‘Valentine’ is a dramatic monologue.
True! ‘Valentine' is a dramatic monologue
What is a dramatic monologue?
A dramatic monologue is a poem written in the form of a speech of one character who reveals their emotions
Name two themes which the poet discusses
Romantic love, heartache, and materialism are all themes which the poet discusses.
What was the result of the publication of the book "Valentine"?
"Valentine" was published in the 1990s. In the decade before this, unemployment and poverty had skyrocketed. As a result, there was a rise in neoliberalism , a political ideology that emphasizes individual rights and freedoms, and advocates for a laissez-faire or “hands-off” approach to the free market. In the UK, where Duffy lives, Margaret Thatcher ushered this ideology into mainstream politics and culture—a movement known as Thatcherism (the British counterpart to Reaganomics in the United States).
How long is Carol Ann Duffy's Love Poems for Valentine's Day?
Guardian Books Podcast: Carol Ann Duffy's Love Poems for Valentine's Day — A 38-minute podcast episode in which the author reads and discusses many of her own love poems, including "Valentine," with a live audience [3:35-6:02].
What is Carol Ann Duffy famous for?
A dramatic monologue is a poem whose imagined speaker addresses another character who cannot respond.
What does the wedding ring mean in the poem?
Wedding rings are, of course, symbols of marriage. However, the wedding ring in the poem presents marriage as a restrictive, diminished form of love. The ring is formed from the inner loops of the onion, which is a conceit for the speaker's love. The speaker describes the rings "shrinking" into the ring, suggesting that marriage belittles the couple's love by collapsing into a socially acceptable contract.
What does the speaker say about the cheesy gifts?
Thus, the cheesy gifts symbolize depictions of love that distort its true nature. More specifically, the overly glossy and cutesy gifts project an idealized image of love that conceals all its messy, destructive parts.
Why do we use apostrophes in the poem Valentine?
On its most basic level, apostrophe increases the poem's authenticity because the speaker interacts with someone that personally impacts them —their lover. Because the significance of such an exchange is palpable, apostrophe also heightens the poem’s stakes, creating tension and anticipation.
When was Carol Ann Duffy profiled?
Profile of Carol Ann Duffy — An in-depth profile of Duffy from 2002, including interview questions and details of her biographical and literary history.
Why is Valentine still fresh?
Published in the book Mean Time in 1993, Valentine remains fresh and valid because it challenges convention on many levels. It is also a useful example of how the poet can create a persona, a character, rather like a playwright, and frame the voice within a unique structure, so that form enhances content.
What is the meaning of the poem "Valentine"?
Valentine is a poem that offers an unconventional approach to the traditional, romantic, commercially driven idea of a sugar coated Valentine's day. It shines the spotlight on that most common of everyday kitchen vegetables, the onion, and infuses it with drama and symbolism.
What does the speaker want in a fierce kiss?
The speaker wants the fierce kiss to endure - onion juices are potent - and again there's a reference to the lover's anatomy...your lips. Does this image reflect a certain bitterness on behalf of the speaker? Raw onion taste lingers and isn't that pleasant.
Why is brown paper considered a strange gift?
So this is indeed a strange gift because the moon is a symbol of all things feminine; of emotion, of profound feeling and romance. It is of course the cause of the ocean tides, and has for centuries been associated with lunacy and instability. Line 4.
Who used the symbol of love in the poem "O my luve's like a red, red?
It is a symbol of true love and is famously used by Scots poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) in his poem A Red Red Rose: O my luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June; Line 2.
What does it mean when a lover looks in the mirror?
This is getting quite serious. The lover's reflection - when they look in a mirror - will be wobbling, which implies instability. Not only that, the use of that shortened word photo could be a reminder of their past relationship, a snapshot, this time incorporating sadness and tears.
Why did Carol Ann Duffy write Valentine?
Carol Ann Duffy wrote Valentine after a radio producer asked her to write an original poem for St. Valentine's Day . Duffy likes to break conventions and in Valentine she is criticising society’s views of being materialistic.
What does Duffy end the poem with?
As the poem progresses, Duffy explores pain and hurt that is associated with love and she ends the poem using a negative tone and a hint of danger.
What is the meaning of the poem Valentine?
Key Quotations. Valentine describes a gift for a lover, such as you would give on Valentine’s Day. It is a rather unusual present – an onion. The poem explains why it is a powerful gift of love, much more than the clichéd roses or box of chocolates.
Carol Ann Duffy and A Summary of "Valentine"
Analysis of "Valentine" Line-By-Line
- Line 1 The opening is direct and almost abrupt yet there is also the idea that the speaker has been thinking about and preparing what to say. This first line, and first stanza, is a peek into the mind of the speaker following a decision on or near Valentine's day or to her Valentine. Not...an adverb, is what's known as a function word and tells the reader straightaway what the speaker doesn't wan…
Sources
- Being Alive, Bloodaxe, Neil Astley, 2004 www.poetryfoundation.org www.poets.org © 2019 Andrew Spacey
Comments
- JOhnon October 17, 2019: alright that was fantastic this came up on my igcse last year and i aced it thanks to you the only reason im saying this now is i wanted to thank u Andrew Spacey (author)from Sheffield, UK on May 13, 2019: Always a pleasure to analyse and discover the insides of a poem. Thank you. jessicaon May 13, 2019: This website is really useful has it has he…