white writing

• regualirty of poem : concistancy of relationship
• A03 time of publishing, gay marriage was still illegal. Same-sex marriage was not legalized in the UK until 2014.
• stanza 1 and 2: declaration of what their (Duffy + Kay’s) relationship is not. anaphoric line ‘I write them write’ chimes six times within the poem, one in each stanza. ‘white’ is polysemous purity and joy, ‘white’ often being associated with light and happiness. Yet, ‘white’, in regards to ‘writing’ is something that would not show up on paper, something hidden and under the surface.

  semantics of light, ‘flame’ and the following word, ‘bright’, both compounding a sense of beautiful light – this, again, signalling the happiness of their relationship.
• stanzas 3 and 4: Duffy’s use of ‘palm against palm’ reference to Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. “palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”, holding hands. connecting with an iconic story of heterosexual love, transient images. Although ‘flame’ could be argued as temporary ‘words on the wind’. Duffy then extends this idea, focusing on the words ‘traced’ in ‘sand’, another image which will be removed from existence. Duffy states that they are living for the moment, enjoying everything as it comes and not holding back from their love.
• The final stanza ‘I write them white’ as the final words of the poem. In doing this, Duffy finishes by focusing on the very core image of secrecy, their relationship being something that only Duffy and Kay will ever know the intimate parts of. In a politically homophobic society that did not want to hear about Duffy’s relationship, she did exactly that, hiding the details away and instead focusing on brief snapshots of joy – a walk along the beach, a shared kiss, the setting of the sun.