Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

"Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy is an unusual but very meaningful love poem which goes into detail about what love is really about.

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Valentine - Carol Ann Duffy "Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy is an unusual but very meaningful love poem which goes into detail about what love is really about. Throughout the text Duffy makes it clear that she thinks that traditional Valentines are a tradition which she feels are overused and meaningless, which is why she uses and onion to convey her feelings. She goes into deep detail about what love can really be about. She shows that love can be good, but also hurtful and difficult. Duffy uses both positive and negative statements to show the way she feels about love. ...read more.

Middle

'Not a red rose, or a satin heart'. ... 'I give you an onion'. By this she is stating that she will not give her lover a conventional valentine present. The make up and use of these consonants portrays a feeling of harshness and sets the tone of the poem. Duffy uses an unconventional metaphor of an onion to imply the presence of romance within the relationship. Duffy attempts to convey a sense of love and romance when she compares the onion to a moon which was described as being wrapped in brown paper. ...read more.

Conclusion

In the last stanza Duffy shows her real worry. She warns us of the pain emotional turmoil that love can cause, but she doesn't warn us NOT to fall in love. Duffy recognises falling in love is something we can't stop, but can be prepared for. 'platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring' ... 'Here' ... 'Take it' ... 'It's sent will cling to your fingers.' ... 'Cling to your knife' She is trying to convey that love isn't all cute and perfect but that's its hurtful, difficult and unpredictable. Love isn't about possessions, it's about the work and the pain and the raw simplicity of it all. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Carol Ann Duffy section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Carol Ann Duffy essays

  1. Write about a treasured possession that you own and describe why it is meaningful ...

    We could not believe it and nor could the driver but we all got on the boat and put on our lifejackets and we were off. I remember sitting in the boat, probably more scared than my grandmother was. It was then when I thought to myself that my grandmother was someone special.

  2. Compare and contrast Carol Ann Duffys treatment of love and language in the poems ...

    Once again, with these similarities come differences. The first refers to a similarity - although both poems have fourteen lines, Text isn't a traditional sonnet. It is more of a modern poem, with the form reflecting the content. The poem is about two people texting each other, and so the

  1. The two poems which I am going to discuss are "Stealing" and "Valentine" both ...

    I like the way some words are more important, it makes you try to think what they mean.

  2. Mrs Midas - Carol Ann Duffy

    "...At least, I said, you'll be able to give up smoking for good.". Roles reversed, Mrs Midas banishes her husband to the spare room in order to prevent herself from being petrified, literally. She refers to him as; "...turning the spare room into the tomb of Tutankhamun."

  1. In "Little Red Cap" discuss the use ofimagery, syntax and structure.

    Towards the end of the poem, little red cap appears to be looking back and reflecting. The enjambment adds to the reflection. "Words, words, were truly alive on the tongue, in the head, warm, beating, frantic, winged; music, and blood."

  2. Compare 3 poems by Carol Ann Duffy in which she shows us that things ...

    This is true of 'Before you were mine' and 'In Mrs Tilscher's Class.' In the second stanza of 'Valentine' the tone changes quite abruptly. The penultimate stanza has just been telling of the nicer things related with love, promising 'light.'

  1. Carol Ann Duffy - Childhood and Youth

    Carol Ann Duffy "Mrs Tilscher" does not help them to take that step, they must move on by themselves. Leaving primary school for the last time is like an escape that children are eager to make but which takes them from the safety of the classroom into a dangerous unknown

  2. The poem, Valentine, is a monologue by Carol Ann Duffy addressed to her lover.

    The onion is a symbol for their love. It is described using a metaphor as a ?moon wrapped in brown paper?, which could also imply that real love does not always have a pleasant appearance but is effulgent in its essence.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work