Valentine Carol Ann Duffy Analysis

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Since no two relationships are alike, love can be expressed through different ways and can still be able to get across to a person’s significant other. The different views of expressing one’s love can be seen in the poem “Valentine,” by Carol Ann Duff, as one lover gives their lover an unusual gift for Valentine's Day. The other way it is shown, is in Julie Sheehan’s poem, “Hate Poem,” which displays one’s love for the other person, using a negative meaning to show how much they truly love the other person. The contrasting views of love in both “Valentine” and “Hate Poem,” are shown through the different perspectives, languages, and themes.
In Duffy’s poem “Valentine,” she challenges the well established representations of romantic love and …show more content…

To the speaker, this is why the onion’s rings have to “shrink”(19) to become a wedding ring. The “shrink” (19) can imply a feeling of being closed in on or captured. This shows that the speaker may feel that marriage can be suffocating and even “lethal,”(21) suggesting that she believes marriage can kill love. Also, this is why she says the onion’s scent “clings to your knife,” (23) because just as a person must cut open an onion to get its scent, they must also cut open and break apart love to bring about heartbreak. This shows that the speaker is suggesting that marriage is the thing that can break apart love.
When looking at the structure and form of “Valentine,” it is very different with its single lined verses. This can be Duffy’s way of protesting at the stereotypical style of love poems, which are usually very regular and often known to use rhyme. While Duffy’ uses very little. The whole point to her poem was to break away from the customary ways to express one’s love to another while showing that love is not always simple nor is it always

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