"Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy

• This poem is an unconventional love poem that challenges stereotypes.
• About the poet:

  • Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet, previously the Poet Laureate.
  • This poem was published in 1993, and it was written after a radio producer wanted an original poem for Valentine's Day.
  • Duffy is a feminist- she challenges stereotypical roles (i.e. the woman giving the Valentine's present) and criticizes traditional attitudes towards love and marriage.
  • The poem is part of the "Mean Time" collection.
• SUMMARY

  • The poem begins with the narrator stating that instead of a traditionally romantic gift, she wants to give her partner an onion.
  • Duffy goes on to explain why the onion is a better representation of love.
  • The poem ends on a slightly dark tone, highlighting the pain and suffering love brings.
• CONTEXT AND MEANING

  • Duffy is challenging traditional presentations of love- by choosing an "onion" over a "red rose" or a "satin heart", she is able to explore the complex sides of love.
  • The poem argues that conventional love imagery is untruthful and misleading. Duffy wants to create a realistic and possibly darker representation of love.
• EXTENDED ONION METAPHOR

  • The extended metaphor of the onion allows Duffy to create an unusual and nuanced (characterised by subtle meaning) perspective of love.
  • In the onion, Duffy combines intimacy- in the image of the "careful undressing" of the onion- with intense passion- with the onion's "fierce kiss".
  • The onion becomes a symbol for a "wedding ring".
  • Duffy presents something not usually considered romantic (onion rings)as representing the height of traditional romance (wedding rings).
• EXAMPLE QUOTE (ONION METAPHOR)

  "It promises light like the careful undressing of love"

  • This line explores how the peeling off of the layers of an onion mimic the vulnerable feeling of letting someone get to know you.
  • The metaphor also represents the sexual intimacy of a relationship. The "undressing" of the onion represents allowing yourself to get close to someone.
• TRADITIONAL IDEAS ABOUT LOVE

  • Even though the poem has an unconventional premise, it has a lot of traditional ideas.
  • The poet is still giving someone a Valentine's day gift, even if it is an onion. They're still sticking to the traditions of romantic relationships.
  • The poem makes reference to engagement and marriage- in the final line, the onion ring becomes a wedding ring and the line "for as long as we are" could be a reference to marriage vows.
• The poet explores the possessive and messy aspects of love in 'Valentine'.
• VIOLENCE

  • The onion metaphor allows Duffy to explore dark aspects of relationships.
  • After the image of the onion ring becoming a wedding ring, Duffy inserts the one word sentence of "-Lethal".
  • The idea is that long term commitment seems deadly or dangerous.
• POSSESSION

  • The smell of the onion is an image used throughout the poem to explore ideas of possessiveness and control.
  • In the penultimate stanza, the "fierce kiss" of the onion will stay on her lover's lips- as if marking her territory.
  • Then in the final line, it is the scent of the onion that will "cling" to her lover's fingers- comparing a long term commitment to a bad smell.
• 'Valentine' is a poem that is trying to be honest about love, but its narrator finds it almost impossible to be honest.
• FIRST PERSON

  • The narrator speaks in the first person, and speaks directly to their partner- "I give you an onion". This gives the reader a sense of intimacy, as if they are intruding on a private conversation.
• FORCEFUL LANGUAGE

  • The narrator is clear on what they think and believe. They have clearly thought carefully about this gift.
  • But they seem to be struggling to express themselves- the narrator shifts from the more passive "I give you" to the imperative "take it" in the final stanza.
  • This shift gives the sense that the narrator is finding it hard to express themselves properly and is becoming frustrated.
• IRREGULAR STRUCTURE

  • The poem has an irregular structure. All the stanzas are of uneven lengths, and some are only one line.
  • The unstable form of the poem reflects the narrator's difficulty in expressing their true feelings.
  • The line "I am trying to be truthful" stands out because it isn't connected to the onion metaphor, and it has its own stanza. This interjection in the poem reveals that the narrator is struggling to be honest and feels that even their well-thought out metaphor is failing to do the job.
• EXAMPLE QUOTE- the dark side of love

  
  

  "Its scent will cling to your fingers, cling to your knife."

  • Extended metaphor and repetition.
  • Repetition of "cling" emphasises the narrator's desire to hold on to her partner and not let them escape.
• KEY QUOTATIONS:

  
  

  "I give you an onion".

  • Duffy repeats this line twice in the poem. This could be seen as forceful or aggressive, but it could also be seen as the speaker desperately trying to get their point across.
• KEY QUOTATION:

  "Not a cute card or a kissogram"

  • Duffy is emphasising that although her gift might seem unpleasant, unlike these cuter, more traditional gifts, her gift of the onion is much more truthful.
• KEY QUOTATION:

  
  

  "Faithful/ as we are/ for as long as we are".

  • This line highlights the fragility of relationships- the speaker is trying to be faithful and truthful but she still doesn't know when their relationship will end.