Next in the poem are the many ideas that lay behind the onion, for example, its layers of love. This poem does not have much structure to it, it is all over the place, and it has no set stanzas, this is how, I feel, that Carol Ann Duffy portrays love and this is how she feels relationships go; it has no set way to go. Love is all mixed up, of feelings and emotions, it does not always go the right way, the right things do not all ways happen. Consequently the poem also has an effect on this aswell. The poem does not go the way it is supposed to, right from the start, so that confusion and mix helps the effect of the way the poem is layed out, therefore they both help one another.
This poem is completely the opposite of Before You Were Mine, because in Before You Were Mine it is a distanced relationship that wants to be a close relationship that cannot happen. and Valentine is a close relationship that is wanted to be closer. Whereas in stealing there is a relationship but there also is not a relationship.
In Before You Were Mine when you read it the first time there is not an obvious sign of relationship, until you look deeper into the poem, when you look into the poem there is the idea of a relationship between a Mother and a Daughter. The relationship is a distant one, and gets worse throughout the poem. The poem goes in chronological order, so every stanza the daughter, who is watching her mother, becomes older. This poem is a monologue, when you first read it it sounds like a piece of prose, it has no rhyme or rhythm, which gives added effect to the poem, in this poem there is a clear sense of the past but as in the poem, it is “fizzy”, fizzy is usually related with beauty, liveliness, but it does not last for example “hands in those red high-heeled shoes, relics.” The caesura before the last word breaks up the sentence from being all-cute and wonderful, fizzy, to being old and miserable, this is how the poem shows that it does not last, just like relationships do not always last. In this poem the overall feeling in the relationship is sadness even with all the sparkly, glittery imagery.
This poem has no set stanzas however its layout is more organized which could suggest the relationship between the two people in the poem is more flowing, smoother running and overall more organized. The poem is also set out, as mentioned before, in chronological order, which also makes the poem flow easier and it also suggests how the relationship changed as the people in the poem changed or grew older.
In stealing the idea is that a young boy has no relationship, and that he is looking for a relationship. This child is looking for a relationship that he hasn’t got, so he resorts to stealing. He first steals a snowman, hoping that will give him what he wants, but then, when it does not, he gets upset and starts kicking it, because he cannot get what he wants he must do other things that will satisfy him. For example going into other people’s houses to see how they live. Also to see what kind of life they lead, for example “break into houses just to have a look.”
Then at the end he speaks as if someone is there, but it becomes a rhetorical question,
“You don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you?” it is as if someone is there but they are not because he talks to them but they do not reply, it is as if he wants someone to be there.
In this poem the stanzas are a lot more layed out and set, each stanza has five lines. I think that this is set out the way it is because unlike in the other poems there has been relationships that are all about confusion and mixed emotions, in this poem there is no relationship. Although it is still confusion it is a lot more straightforward, therefore it is set out a lot more straightforward.
I conclude that the three poems I have written about all contain one form or another of relationships, all different in their own way. I also conclude that the way the poem is layed out, can suggest a lot about the poem and the ideas behind it. For example Stealing, very straightforward, but also a straightforward relationship. Valentine a confused and complicated relationship therefore it is layed out messier than Before You Were Mine. Before You Were Mine, the relationship is not straightforward but not quite as complicated as Valentine, however the poem is the most complicated to read, when first read, it also has many more confusing and complicated ideas behind it. All these poems have different ideas behind them, some more complicated than others, all of them are layed out differently, but all of the have some form of relationship in them.