Ahmed Khankhara 10I
Compare Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Valentine’ to Andrew Marvell’s ‘To his coy mistress’
In this essay I am going to compare two poems, ‘Valentine’ written by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘To His Coy Mistress’, written by Andrew Marvell. The poem ‘Valentine’ was written in the twentieth century and the poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ was written in the seventeenth century which developed many similarities and differences. The two poems are very similar because they show and express emotion about love or some kind of relationship. They differ because the poem ‘Valentine’ expresses ideas and feelings in complicated ways and ‘To His Coy Mistress’ expresses ideas in a simple and clear way. But does Carol Ann Duffy express her emotions in this way maybe because she’s a woman and women tend to express their feelings more because of lack of self control, Whereas men tend not to express emotions and keep their feelings trapped inside them. Writing poetry maybe the way in which Duffy expresses her ideas and feelings not only to herself but also to the others.
The poem ‘Valentine’ is about a woman expressing her love on the day of love, Valentine’s Day. The speaker is talking to her lover and is trying to express the feelings which she has inside of her. Duffy describes her love by comparing the love to an onion which firstly comes about to be very unusual, but then becomes to be very familiar when thinking through the similarities of an onion and love. “Its is a moon wrapped in brown paper” When reading the metaphor at first you wouldn’t know what feelings Duffy is trying to express, but then when you begin to study the line you begin to understand what Duffy is trying to say. She’s saying that the moon is the actual onion which is white and so it would promise light, and putting light into a relationship would make the relationship stronger and happier. It emphasises the moon being a present because she is wrapping it and the moon is a present of happiness in their love. A moon is a romantic image of life, for example a traditional image in maybe another book or a film, the perfect couple would walk out of a beautiful dinner and dance sit on a bench, cuddle up and gaze into the light of the moon, it’s the stereotypical meaning of the image. Duffy uses this image very differently; she describes the moon to be like light, “it promises light”. she describes this line to be like putting light in the relationship, which would make the their bond to each other more fun, more stronger and that the relationship would last forever. Her next line is “like the careful undressing of love”, this line is presented as a simile describing the light, she is saying that the further you go into a relationship the stronger it will get in comparison with an onion, the further you go in an onion the stronger it will get. She also uses this line as a reference of sex, she shows this as she uses the word undressing.
When reading the poem, you study the poem’s title, and with Duffy’s title being Valentine you instantly think it’s about romance. So you read the first line, a line on its own, which is emphasised “Not a red rose or a satin heart”, the reason in which it stands out is that it mocks a rule of poetry, it also makes the reader think that a line on its own has an big meaning. She is trying to explain to her lover that what she cant give her the stereotypical image because of the way she is. So it directly makes you think that the present wrapped in brown paper is something bigger and better, like a car or even happiness and joy. Then the next line tells you that she is going to give her lover an onion. It makes a peculiar picture form in your head and there is a lot of confusion because an onion is a raw vegetable which is not very tasty, it does not cost very much and is a very weird thing to give to somebody as a present. Then the next line goes on about how the lover will cry because of the onion and the love, Duffy is trying to say that the lover will cry because when you love someone you are more hurt when they deceive you or do wrong to you. Later on in the poem Duffy uses the word ‘lethal’ which suggests death. This is very unlikely to be in a love poem. The poem is not what we expect in a love poem as it includes many negative and pessimistic ideas such as “lethal” and “cling to your knife” and “its fierce kiss will stay on your lips”. Another suggestion about the last line is the opposite and is describing that when they kiss, the kiss will stay on her lips forever just like the love that they share. When Duffy uses these lines we suspect she has many mixed feelings and emotions. She implies that love isn’t always sweet and has sharp and cutting edges that can result in tears, just like the scent and taste of an onion. Throughout the poem Duffy uses the line “I am trying to be truthful” which explains the negative images and her mixed feelings. Her mixed feelings also relate to the fact that she has an irregular structure, that she has lines and words on their own. My opinion to her mixed feelings is her sexual status and that it isn’t what it traditionally should be and maybe that is why she doesn’t like doing what traditional lovers would do. “Not a cute card or a kissogram”. Her sexual status shows that she has mixed feelings and that she is very confused. She could also be having mixed feelings because she is receiving uncertainty from her lover and their relationship isn’t stable and strong. This could explain her confusion. “Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring, if you like” Duffy is not certain that the relationship is firm, this is why she offers or hints for marriage but not a definite marriage proposal. This is because of the way she uses if you like which shows hesitation because she cant predict what her lovers reaction would be.
