here's an episode of how to analyze poetry from the learning cauldron today we'll be looking at Carolyn Duffy's poem Valentine analyzing poetry involves identifying and dissecting the literary techniques that the poet has used effectively to explore the theme or themes of a poem in her poem Valentine Carol Ann Duffy explores the themes of love relationships conflict isolation the title of the poem Valentine suggests the 14th of February the giving of gifts and all the romance that's associated with that day however we're going to be disappointed as we find out straight away in the first line in fact the first stanza which is not a red rose or a satin heart these are the stereotypical gifts that might be given by one person to another as a token of affection on Valentine's Day and Carolyn Duffy is making it clear right from the start that she rejects these and this is repeated in fact later on in the poem where we have not a cute card or a kisser crown so just in case we'd forgotten she brings our attention back to it Duffy proposes an alternative Valentine's Day gift she says I give you an onion so this lover is speaking to the person receiving the Valentine's Day gift and she tells them what she's about to give them a very mundane vegetable you will never pass a vegetable rack again in your life having read this poem and look at an onion in the same way she uses it as a metaphor throughout the entire poem and she starts off with the positive aspects of love and the positive aspects of an onion it is a moon wrapped in brown paper now if you think of the appearance of an onion it is a sort of milky yellowy color round and round it there is a crinkly crunchy paper very like brown paper both in texture and appearance so it's a very vivid image that she has here she mentions that this promises light because obviously the moon is romantic and the idea of moonlit walks is a romantic aspect of love like the careful undressing of love she uses a simile to describe the fact that as you peel back the layers then perhaps you get to know each other better moving on to the second stanza again we start with a short blunt sentence here and we picture the poet the persona handing over an onion to a rather bewildered recipient she begins to explain it will blind you with tears like a lover and here we have the word choice of blind which definitely hints at something more negative about relationships and the fact that just as an onion can make you cry so two relationships if they go wrong can bring you to tears and so we have the simile like a lover it will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief she says and the word choice of grief is strong grief is a very negative emotion generally felt if you have lost someone through death and therefore we can see again that there are negative aspects to a relationship the next stanza is just one line long and the tone here is very earnest I am trying to be truthful she says with a nice alliterative TR and then TR which emphasizes how serious she is about what she's saying and what she means here is that I'm not going to pretend that life love and relationships are easy they're not all about chocolates and red roses and all these things I'm trying to be truthful what a relationship is like is more like what an onion is like it can make you cry even though there are positive aspects about it and the romance aspect there are also tears involved in relationships and just to remind us again she repeats not a cute card or a histogram she's not going to be giving her lover either of those things and she repeats I give you an onion again we see slightly negative connotations of the onion in this sustained metaphor it's fierce case will stay on your lips and if you've ever eaten raw onion you will know that you don't lose it quickly just as if you've had a passionate relationship we've just gone maybe slightly wrong you don't forget these things quickly and she uses the words possessive and faithful now possessive has a hint of something slightly negative a little bit of jealousy and envy their faithful would be a good thing so relationships are a mixture of good and bad and she says faithful as we are the enjoyment here emphasizes that we are but then she adds for as long as we are and there a tone of uncertainty creeps in there's the idea that perhaps that might not be forever and in the final stanza again she's insisting that her lover take the onion and she's becoming more imperative in her tour and then she uses this fantastic image it's platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring and if you've ever peeled and then taken the layers of an onion you'll know that right in the center there's a very small ring and what she's saying is that as you peel back the layers of an onion just as as you get to know people at the center of that there may be a wedding a long term relationship but she doesn't want to commit herself if you like she says so that she hasn't played all her cards and then gets disappointed if the other person doesn't like her as much there's this uncertainty in relationships and also the feeling that the shrinking to a wedding ring the the assonance of the eyes there makes us feel it's slightly restrictive and that's a negative aspect of a long-term relationship if we're left in any doubt as to whether she thinks that loving relationships can turn nasty this single word sentence sums it up to a tee lethal it's a minor sentence no verb involved and it gives us a very clear impression I mean lethal means deadly or it can mean poisonous and dangerous and that certainly suggests that she believes that relationships can become very unpleasant indeed to leave us with she continues the imagery the metaphor the extended metaphor of the onion it's sent now sent ISM were positive for it it sounds a bit like perfume you can imagine somebody's cologne or perfume and the idea of romance but then she says it will cling to your fingers cling to your knife and that last words knife leaves us in no doubt about the fact that loving relationships can turn bad and they can really hurt so this poem it's written in free verse which is very symbolic the changing uncertainty that she feels that the changes that she feels about the different ways that relationships can go and the use of the monosyllabic words throughout gives a very blunt and honest feel but there's also quite a sinister tone near the end short poem but a lot to say about it particularly because of this wonderful extended use of a metaphor of an onion I hope that's been helpful see you next time you