Valentine

• "I give you an onion

  • repeated in 6th stanza-presents speaker as insistent and forceful- sense of unease
  • 'I' personal pronoun - poem is about a specific person
  • "I give" - direct address
  • 'onion' - symbolises love has many layers like a gift - comparison with the onion suggests her love is distinctive and can't be ignored
  • extended metaphor for love - unexpected contrast with the first line - unconventional gift
• It will blind you with tears like a lover

  • unclear whether talking about love or onion - onion symbolises that love causes pain
  • enjambment in between 'tears' and 'like' makes person feel disjointed - simile
  • separation emphasises how unpredictable the simile is - the comparison doesn't necessarily end the way the reader expects
  • bad experiences with love in Duffy's past
• Lethal.


  • onion symbolises danger and death - shocking and unexpected for a love poem-one word sentence- creates tension
  • tone change - formal and serious
  • love can't be permanently damaging - love and violence are inextricably linked to one another
• context

  • Duffy likes to break conventions and in Valentine she is criticising society’s views of being materialistic
  • Duffy’s poetry is often feminist in its themes and approach
• structure

  • The poem begins by listing clichéd gifts that people give and receive for Valentine’s Day. As the poem progresses, Duffy explores pain and hurt that is associated with love and she ends the poem using a negative tone and a hint of danger