1. What is a Valentine?
A card you get on February 14th?
Someone you love
Both?
2. What kind of poem is it? a sonnet (fourteen rhyming lines), a free verse lyric (short, personal poem) or an epic poem (long poem with heroic characters)?
3. The writer, Carol Ann Duffy, is a woman. Is the narrator a man or a woman?
4. What present is offered in this poem?
Vocabulary:
Find the words meaning emballé(e); tremblante; féroce; fidèle; mortel; rétrécir; saccrocher
5. Read the first line again and find a similar line in the poem. What do the sentences and the gifts mentioned have in common?
6. Lines 2 to 5 what is the onion compared to? Explain how you understand that metaphor.
7. Lines 6 to 11 Explain what happens to the person who receives the onion. Account for the wobbling photo. What is the advantage of the onion over other gifts?
8. Lines 13 to 17 show that the onion represents love and is stronger than a cute card.
9. Lines 18 to 20 what metal is a wedding ring usually made of? what is different here? Explain the poets intention. Show that the loved person is given a choice.
10. Lines 21 to 23 Pick out the 2 adjectives that best define the speakers love. Justify your choice: dangerous; unforgettable; ephemeral; untouchable
11. Which title does not fit the poem: Love is blind; Love hurts; Love is forever
12. Would you say this poem is romantic?
Writing task:
Do you like this poem? Explain why or why not.
Do you think that marriage is less strong than love?
Do you think that love should be romantic and idealistic, or truthful and realistic?
13. What is a Valentine?
A card you get on February 14th?
Someone you love
Both?
14. What kind of poem is it? a sonnet (fourteen rhyming lines), a free verse lyric (short, personal poem) it is mostly composed of sentences, but there are also single words or an epic poem (long poem with heroic characters)?
15. The writer, Carol Ann Duffy, is a woman. Is the narrator a man or a woman?
It is not made clear, there is no way to tell, it is certainly a way to make her poem sound universal, more different from traditional poems, in which men are not supposed to use the same words or the same presents than women; here they are equal.
16. What present is offered in this poem? an onion is offered by the speaker to his /her lover it is very unusual, surprising and intriguing.
Vocabulary:Find the words meaning
emballé(e) wrapped;
tremblante; wobbling
féroce; fierce
fidèle; faithful
mortel; lethal
rétrécir; shrink
saccrocher; saccrocher
17. Read the first line again and find a similar line in the poem. What do the sentences and the gifts mentioned have in common? line 1 and 12 same structure not + traditional symbol of love
LINE 1: Negative adverb not indicates rejection of traditional symbols of love.
LINE 12: Can be seen as the second half of the poem and refers back to the first stanza.
Repetition: Both stanzas have the same syllable count (9), similar wording Not and a rejection of two typical symbols of love cute card and kissogram . The adjective cute is also important because it underlines the pretty quality of the card; anybody would like it, but it is so common that one can doubt its truthfulness. By making vulgar gifts, the poet wants to break that romantic image of Valentines day.
|
|
|
NOTE: Kissograms are not used now, but during the 70′s were popular. Kissograms were people who were hired on special days/ occasions like valentines day to go round and kiss the sweetheart on behalf of their lover with a special message.
Duffy chooses to challenge the conventional symbols of love, namely the red rose and the satin heart. This rejection of classic love tokens is indicated through the negative not.
18. Lines 2 to 5 what is the onion compared to? Explain how you understand that metaphor.
Duffy introduces alternative symbol of love; the onion. An unusual comparison, however Duffy begins to make valid connections by comparing the shape and colour of it to the moon.
Metaphor - a moon wrapped in brown paper refers to the romantic connotations that the moon carries. The moon influences the tides and all water on earth. Since 75% of the earth is water and our own bodies also contain the same amount, it means it also has an effect on our emotions too. In ancient mythology the moon was ruled by Diana, a goddess worshipped by the Roman women. She had two sides to her personality; the pure maiden and the huntress. She was believed to help pregnant women through labour, yet had a violent side to her makes. The image of moon/onion takes on a sensual image, and we have a hint of love-making as the beginning of the relationship. The brown paper represents the onion peel, like a gift, you have to unwrap it to discover what is inside.
The undressing love means that loving someone also means discovering that person, to see what is inside. The white of the onion and of the moon certainly means that the feelings are strong, pure and true
Direct address I give you , Duffy addresses the reader directly, giving the poem a personal tone.
19. Lines 6 to 11 Explain what happens to the person who receives the onion. he or she is supposed to peel it and cry, as it usually happens when you peel an onion Account for the wobbling photo. it is the persons image in the mirror when that person is crying. When you cry you cannot see things easily, the tears blur what you see, hence the wobbling photo.What is the advantage of the onion over other gifts? According to the poet the onion is more truthful. What she means is that sometimes love makes you cry, and this is the message with the onion = the pain of love is not hidden.
In this stanza the poet begins to explore the negative sides of love through similes and metaphors.
Direct address: Here. An offering of the onion to the reader. Very intimate, confident and bold.
Simile/ personification: blind you with tears like a lover . The onion is compared to a lover and the way love often leaves us in tears. A large part of being in love is also the risk of being left heart-broken. This connection is explored in the way an onion stings our eyes when we try to get to the heart of it (cut it), the same way we may be stung by another persons heartlessness.
Metaphor: make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief. Imagery where we are looking through the eyes of the upset lover who may be gazing at a their own reflection in the mirror and crying at the same time.
|
|
|
20. Lines 13 to 17 show that the onion represents love and is stronger than a cute card.the kiss on the lips obviously represents love. The adjectives and adverbs show the love symbolized by the onion is not soft and ephemeral. On the contrary it is fierce and passionate, and it is a long -term commitment: it is possessive and faithful and will stay for a long time.
Metaphor/ Personification: The onion is compared to a jealous lover and the way their kiss at this point in the relationship would be a mixture of passion and punishment. This is further illustrated through the way an onions smell clings stubbornly to our fingers when we cut it. The key word here is possessive, and this hints at obsessive love and how this is turning into an unhealthy relationship. One of the partners is evidently suffering from this claustrophobic relationship
21. Lines 18 to 20 what metal is a wedding ring usually made of? usually made of gold what is different here? Whereas here is made of platinum. Explain the poets intention. First it is the colour of the onion, which is white, not golden. then, platinum is often considered better than gold because it is heavier and more durable than gold; (in many countries a platinum wedding is celebrated after 70 years of marriage, whereas gold represents 50 years) But first and foremost, it is less commonly found. almost everybody has a gold ring, but very few people have platinum rings.
Show that the loved person is given a choice.The speaker asks the person to take the gift, but the commitment that it symbolizes is not imposed upon him/her; if you like The words if you like are added to show that the relationship could go in this direction, but it is not necessary for the things that will inevitably follow.
Images of married life flash are introduced as Duffy implies that marriage kills romance and makes romantic love a chore or a punishment.
Direct Address: Take it . Duffy is still addressing her readership in a bold and confident tone.
Metaphor: The loops of the onion are compared to a wedding ring that shrink which implies being trapped. The loops are platinum, meaning a very precious metal, which is ironic because the onion is not at all precious or desirable.
22. Lines 21 to 23 Pick out the 2 adjectives that best define the speakers love. Justify your choice: dangerous= lethal it is so strong that it can lead to death the danger is also mentioned in the last word of the poem knife. it is the knife that will cut the onion, but of course it evokes violence.; unforgettable yes, it scent will cling the onion pungent taste will stay for a long time, like the kiss that will stay on the lips; ephemeral it is exactly the opposite; untouchable no, love actually sticks to the persons skin
The word lethal is on its own, showing what the relationship has turned into and drawing attention to it.
The last two lines again imply the smell of the onion and introduces the knife. This is violent imagery which implies that the two lovers have become enemies. This is when the image of the moon (Diana) as huntress becomes relevant, as the dark side of romantic love (or the moon) reveals itself in the later stages of the relationship.
23. Which title does not fit the poem: Love is blind is not the point here; Love hurts can be a title because of (tears, grief, knife); Love is forever can be a title (possessive, faithful, wedding ring, cling..)
24. Would you say this poem is romantic? Yes it is a declaration of love, so it could be considered to be a modern form of romanticism. After all, writing a poem definitively is romantic; even if it is not conventional; there are no rhymes and it is not a sonnet; No it is not meant to be romantic, the onion itself is not romantic at all; the images in the poem are not always positive; it talks about grief and death. We would expect a romantic poem to make people dream of happiness, with flowers and beautiful landscapes, but it is not the case in this poem.
|
|
|
The poet certainly wanted to be un-romantic. here what is emphasized is the dangerous strength and durability of love. It is opposed to be the values of romanticism or romance:
A romance is usually a short relationship
Romanticism is a way to make things sound more exciting or mysterious than they really are here things are supposed to sound exactly as they are.
