Valentine and My Box- A comparison
Valentine and My Box- A comparison
My Box by Gillian Clarke and Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy, are both poems which rely on heavy use of metaphors and symbolism. In "Valentine", Duffy uses the onion to give an original and somewhat shocking view of love: "Not a red rose or a satin heart" she ignores the clichés and opts for something more dramatic and powerful. This first line automatically gives a negative impression, as the first word in the poem is negative, 'not'. The title of the poem 'Valentine' written by Carol Ann Duffy is very misleading. One would expect to read of romantic love, instead she writes about cynical love. She may have been hurt in previous relationships.
The first line is not part of a stanza, so the poet is meaning this part to be emphasised. The poem starts by telling you what it is not, then what it is.
The poet has chosen to give her lover an onion. She uses the onion to symbolize love. Duffy is deliberately trying to be unconventional in her gift of onion; an onion is not usually associated with a love poem so it catches the reader's attention, however, we can not be sure, as with any person, we never really know what they are intending. She uses a metaphor to convey this idea. 'I give you an onion, it is moon wrapped in brown paper,'-With this she creates an air of mystery. 'It promises light, like the careful undressing of love.'- A feeling of sensuality is created with the use of the repetition of the 'l' sound, and the reference to undressing, which could be viewed as being sexual. She also uses the moon as a metaphor, which is a usual representation of love.
Further down, the use of the word 'Here' makes the reader feel that the poet is in control. This almost seems forceful, and it makes the reader pay attention because it has one syllable, and a breath, when read, is taken before and after. She continues with the extended metaphor 'it will blind you with tears'. Not only will the onion make your eyes water, the pain caused by a loved one has the same effect. She may be referring to the pain and heartache sometimes associated with relationships. The pain can make one feel bitter and disillusioned. 'It will blind you with tears like a lover. It will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief.´ Everyone knows that onions make you cry when not handled properly, and Duffy is comparing the expected consequence of handling an onion to the fragile structure of love.
She explains that she does not wish to be unkind. She is being realistic. Again Duffy uses a single line to emphasise its meaning and mood. 'I am trying to be truthful.´ It is almost like Duffy is responding to an unenthusiastic comment of the lover by declaring her authenticity. 'I am trying to be truthful.'- alliteration, the repetition of the 't' sound gives it the feeling of sincerity. Below this line there is another single line, 'Not a cute card or a kiss-o-gram.´ Duffy again uses a negative technique to start the line. This line is saying ...
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She explains that she does not wish to be unkind. She is being realistic. Again Duffy uses a single line to emphasise its meaning and mood. 'I am trying to be truthful.´ It is almost like Duffy is responding to an unenthusiastic comment of the lover by declaring her authenticity. 'I am trying to be truthful.'- alliteration, the repetition of the 't' sound gives it the feeling of sincerity. Below this line there is another single line, 'Not a cute card or a kiss-o-gram.´ Duffy again uses a negative technique to start the line. This line is saying that an onion is not a typical gift. She does not approve of commercial tokens of love. She is trying not to stereotype their relationship, but is trying to realistically convey love.
In the next stanza, Duffy repeats a line again, 'I give you an onion'. This line may be repeated to ensure that the reader can see what the underlying message is. It may also be repeated so that the reader is reminded how irregular the gift is. It is also a metaphor. 'It's fierce kiss will stay on your lips' the bitter taste of an onion remains on a person's lips just like the memory of a kiss can stay with someone forever. 'Possessive and faithful as we are, for as long as we are' She suggests that love does not always last forever. Duffy starts her last stanza with a single sentence-'Take it'. She insists that he accept her gift.
In a sense she belittles marriage. She compares the loops of an onion to a wedding ring, and implies that marriage can deaden love and passion. The next line is a single sentence, 'Lethal´. This is quite obscure because the dictionary meaning of lethal is 'causing death´, either Duffy wants the readers to think that marriage will ultimately lead to death or divorce, or she has written it sarcastically to the lover, maybe he thinks marriage is meaningless and she is writing satirically. 'Its scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife.´ She is stating that love has such a possessive grasp on her, it clings to her. She expresses these sentiments in the extended metaphor. She states that sometimes people never recover from a broken romance. They will continue to experience heartache, pain and bitterness. 'Its scent will cling to your fingertips, cling to your knife.' The repetition of the word 'cling' is effective. The word 'knife' conveys the image of a wound, and the sharpness of their relationship, as well as love in general. This may be due to the fact that the poet has obviously been hurt in previous relationships.
In "My Box", the books, the box and the "golden tree" symbolise the relationship between the author and her partner. The books especially show the long lifetime spent together. They describe the time spent with each other, the enjoyment, the things they did. This poem is similar to the last in the fact that they both give the impression of layers. In "Valentine" it is the onion itself, with its skin and the insides that show this. In "My Box", the fact that the memories are in the words, the words written in the books, the books in the box made of golden oak, shows this. Valentine shows that inside a plain wrapping, one might find something special if one searches for it, and unwraps the layers. This effect is also achieved in "My Box" as the author emphasises the fact that the books are there to read if someone opens the box, which is not even locked. "My Box" is a very symbolic poem it uses symbols such as the books to represent the relationship, whilst "Valentine" is a poem based around the metaphor of love being like an onion.
The poem itself is about a gift from one lover to another, a box, just like Valentine, which has an onion as the gift. The first line 'My box is made of golden oak, my lover's gift to me´. Clarke introduces the characters, the lover and the narrator. 'He fitted hinges and a lock of brass and a bright key.´ This line has a sort of naivety about it because it is made up of monosyllables. The next line uses the repetition of the word 'and' to emphasize the point that the man did indeed spend a very long time on it. 'He made it out of winter nights, sanded and oiled and planed, engraved inside a heavy lid in brass, a golden tree.´
This stanza describes what the lover who received the box off this man, does with it. 'In my box are twelve black books where I have written down how we have sanded, oiled and planed, planted a garden, built a wall, seen jays and gold crests, rare red kites, found the wild heartsease, drilled a well, harvested apples and words and days and planted a golden tree.´ Basically the whole stanza is written as a list to tell the reader what the couple did when they were together. 'In my box are twelve black books,´ these are presumably her whole memories written down in books, like a diary, it also shows how short life is because her whole life with her lover, as a couple, is written in twelve books. Each of the things on the list is a metaphor to what normally happens in a relationship. For example where she writes 'built a wall' she may be referring to them buying a property or a secure home.
In the third stanza Clarke seems to be writing in a more matured, reflective style. She writes the box is on the shelf with the key, there for anyone to look at. 'On an open shelf I keep my box. Its key is in the lock´.
'I leave it there for you to read, or them, when we are dead,´ The 'you´ mentioned in the line is probably directed to her lover, which is quite unconventional because it is believed that husbands die before the wives, and she is saying the opposite. 'Them´ is probably directed to the children, who perhaps have not grown up yet, or maybe to anyone else interested in knowing about their relationship.
'How everything is slowly made,´ she is probably referring to the relationship and how it took a long time to make it 'real´. 'How slowly things made me, a tree, a lover, words, a box, books and a golden tree.´ She is saying how all these things have made her a person. 'A tree´ stands for possible a family tree, having continuity in her life. 'A lover´ could mean the good and bad experiences that couples generally have. 'Words´ could be referring to what you say to people and how they affect you and them. It also says that 'words´ were harvested, in the last stanza. 'A box´ means her whole life with her partner and her experiences. 'Books´ are the twelve books that she has written in which shows her memories. The 'Golden tree´ is the core of the poem, it is a metaphor for love and how it was nurtured from a seed, faces the good and bad experiences and how it flourishes into something beautiful.
There are some similarities and differences between the poems. Both are about gifts given to someone by their lovers. Even though the gifts are very different, a box and an onion, they are both ways of telling the lover how much they admire them.
The tone of each of the poems is different. In "My Box" the tone is a warm feeling one, that is portrayed through warm sounding words such as 'golden oak´ and 'heartsease´. "Valentine" has quite an aggressive feel to it. This may be due to all the single lined sentences, and the single word sentences such as 'lethal´. Most of these sound like orders, 'Take it.´ and 'Here' for example.
The two poems also have quite different intentions. "My Box" has no moral, except maybe to emphasise to the reader that life is too short, but is rather a story about her life and memories, whereas "Valentine" is intentionally unconventional to highlight her passion and love for him.
Tanzil Aslam 11 O
