The two poems which I am going to discuss are "Stealing" and "Valentine" both written by Carol Ann Duffy.

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POETRY ASSIGNMENT

STEALING AND VALENTINE'S ESSAY.

Choose two of Carol Ann Duffy's poems and discuss how she has used these poems to communicate her ideas and to influence the reader's thoughts and feelings.

The two poems which I am going to discuss are "Stealing" and "Valentine" both written by Carol Ann Duffy.

"Stealing" by Ann is written in the first person narration. The speaker indicates directly to the reader that the most unusual thing was a snowman. Many of these, we are told by the thief are 'things which I don't need', which is why we can question what exactly the thief is trying to steal and why. After all what exactly is the thief trying to achieve by stealing the snowman? We are told that 'part of the thrill was knowing that the children would cry in the morning', so perhaps metaphorically the thief sees the snowman as someone's happiness and is in fact trying to steal someone else's happiness for himself. Furthermore, the speaker is also a loner and yearns for companionship. He claims "I wanted him, a mate withy a mind as cold as the slice of the ice within my own brain". No matter how miserable the children will be because of his inconsiderate action, he doesn't care, for he is in need of a mate. The phrase 'slice of ice' seems very cold and heartless in itself, using it to describe a part of someone's brain seems to me to be a very negative personality trait.

The thief is morally confused- he sees "not taking what you want" as "giving in", as if you might as well be dead as accept conventional morality. She (Duffy) is examining someone else's attitude to life. I think this is very possible as the thief makes it clear that he/she is unhappy with life by making remarks such as 'life's tough'. The thief also tries to ressemble the snowman in his/her yard, to me it seems the thief is doing this to try and make it (the snowman) his own and is angered when someone else's snowman can mean nothing to him/her. Maybe because the thief finds life so 'tough' he/she may just want to take it out on someone and make them suffer like he/she is. Another reason for stealing could be simply because the thief wanted him. The thief tells us that you're 'better of dead than giving in, not taking what you want' which is very selfish and cold hearted.

Carol Ann Duffy made it a confusing poem in many ways, firstly the whole idea of stealing a snowman is quite strange anyway and secondly the poem is written in an odd way. 'I'm a mucky ghost' he/she sees him/herself to be mysterious, unnoticed and feared and the image of 'gloved hand twisting a door
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knob' is almost like a scene from a horror movie. A metaphor is used in line13, "I'm a mucky ghost", as in the eyes of the children, the victims, the speaker is a mucky ghost which is even worse than human beings and is disliked by others. He

breaks in out of curiosity, "to have a look" but does not understand what he sees. He is pathetic, as he seems anxious to make a mark of some kind, weather leaving "a mess" or steaming up mirrors with his breath. He casually mentions

how he ...

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