Relationships In ?Valentine? And ?Before You Were Mine? Essay, Research Paper
The title of the poem ?Valentine? written
by Carol Ann Duffy is very misleading. One would expect to read romantic love,
instead she writes about cynical love. She has obviously been hurt in previous
relationships. The poem starts off with a positive
statement-?Not a red rose, or a satin heart?. She states that she will not give
her lover a conventional valentine present. The harsh consonants give a feeling
of harshness. The poet has chosen to give her lover an
onion. She uses the onion to symbolize love. Like a person we never really know
what a person is really intending. She uses a metaphor to convey this idea. ?I
give you an onion, it is moon wrapped in brown paper,?-With this creates an air
of mystery is created. ?It promises light, like the careful undressing of
love.?- A feeling of sensuality is created with the use of the repetition of
the ?l? sound. The use of the word ?Here? makes the
reader feel that the poet is in control. She continues with the extended
metaphor ?it will blind you with tears? Not only will the onion make your eyes
water, the pain caused by a loved one has the same effect. The use of a simile
contributes to this viewpoint ? like a lover, love distorts one?s vision. It
will mislead the reader into believing something that isn?t true. The pain can
make one feel bitter and disillusioned. The white space gives time for the
reader to reflect upon the section of the poem that they have just read. She
explains that she does not wish to be unkind. She is being realistic. ?I?m
trying to be truthful.?- alliteration, the repetition of the ?t? sound gives it
the feeling of sincerity. ?Not a cute card or a kiss-o-gram?- she does not
approve of commercial tokens of love. ?I give you an onion?- She uses a
metaphor. ?It?s fierce kiss will stay on you lip? the bitter taste on an onion
remains on a person?s lips. The memory of a kiss can stay with one forever.
?Possessive and faithful as we are, for as long as we are? She suggests that
love affairs only last for the time that two people are interested in each
other. She insists that he accepts her gift ?Take it?. She denigrates marriage.
She compares the loops of an onion to a wedding ring and implies that marriage
can deaden love and passion. Marriage is lethal in her opinion. In the extended
metaphor she expresses her sentiments, sometimes people never recover from a
broken romance. They will continue to experience heartache, pain, bitterness.
?Its scent will cling to your fingertips, cling to your knife.? The repetition
of the word ?cling? is effective. The word ?knife? conveys the image of a
wound. The poet has obviously been hurt in previous relationships. On the contrast, another poem, ?Before you
were mine?, also written by Carol Ann Duffy is about mutual love between mother
and daughter. There are several different romances in this poem. The poet
considers her mother at three different times. In the first stanza she imagines
her mother as a teenager, ten years before I was born. ?I?m 10 years away from
the corner that you laugh on with your pals?. She imagines her mother?s life,
she is young, carefree and without responsibility. She enjoys the company of
her friends, they shriek with laughter. ?The three of you bend waist hold each
other on you knees and shriek at the pavement? She imagines her mother in a
polka-dot dress of the time. In her mind an image appears of the late
sex-goddess Marilyn Munroe in a scene from the film ?Some like it hot?. ?A
polka-dot dress blows round your legs, Marilyn? Once again Carol Ann Duffy uses
enjambment to give an empress ion she is trying to recreate the past in her
imagination. Caesura is used to introduce the girls? names. The names Maggie
McGeeney and Jean Duff suggest they are ordinary working-class, fun loving
girls. The poet continues to think about her
mothers? carefree days. ?I?m not here yet? Her mother is unaware of the future
that lies ahead. ?The thought of you does not occur?. The mother enjoys herself
at ?dances in the ballroom with the thousand eyes, the fizzy movie tomorrows.?
She still has dreams and hopes for the future, she dreams of the glamour seen
on the big screen. Caesura is used to show her thought process. At dances they
hoped that they might meet their future partner. ?I knew you would dance like
that? She looks back at the days when her mum was free and uninhibited. She
admires her mother. She then introduces the title of the poem
?Before you were mine?. The reader is then able to sense a strong bond between
mother and child. The possessive pronoun ?Mine? enforces the idea of a close
mother-daughter relationship. She can imagine her mother ?ma? waiting to
reprehend her for being late. Knowing her mother has spirit she will think that
the punishment was nothing compared to the fun she had just had. ?You reckon
it?
life dramatically; she had to be responsible and look after a child. In the third stanza that the ten years
before she was born were probably the best years of her mothers life. ?The
decade ahead of my loud possessive yell was the best one, eh?? She uses a
rhetorical question. She does not really want her mother to confirm that
statement. In her imagination she sees her mother
clattering in high heeled shoes ?I remember my hand in those high heeled red
shoes relics and now your ghost clatters towards me over George Square?- the
image is vivid she uses an effective metaphor to show this as/like ?a scent?. She indicates once more that her mother
was a free spirit ?and those small bites on your neck, sweet heart??- Another
rhetorical question. She remembers as a child dancing to the
?cha cha cha on the way home from mass?- She wanted to express her self. Her mother has not realized her full
potential; she married young and has the responsibility of motherhood. The poet
yearns to be the young girl from the past ?even then? Portobello? the glam
image will never fade. She uses alliteration to show that her mothers?
qualities are time less. ?The glamorous? You were mine.? The two poems are very different to each
other. As I mentioned before, ?Before you were mine? was based on a mutual
relationship between mother and child whilst ?Valentine? Is about a love
relationship that has gone horribly wrong and has left one of the lovers stranded in an emotional state which can not be resolved. She will always have that
close bond with her mother. What ever happens they will always be there for
each other. However when you are dating other people you never know what their
true intentions are. You can never spend enough time with some one to get to
know their true personality that they are holding back. She idolizes and adores her mother, she
looks up to her and has done ever since she was a child, this is why she love
her. On the contrary she loves her lover because she wants to get to know that
person. She finds them interesting and different. ????????? In "Before you were
mine" there are several references to time and it is one of the main
topics. She refers to the past and compares it to what it is like in the
present. This suggests that the bond with her mother will be there for
eternity. Whereas in "Valentine" time isn’t such a big issue and is
barely touched upon throughout the poem. It is all written in present. She
doesn?t think about past relationships. This may suggest that she has been in
only one relationship with a man and will not go back to him or another man. The levels of time is "Before you were mine"
can be puzzling Unlike "Valentine", "Before you were mine"
explains how much the poet idolises and adores her mother. Both poems focus on the
subject of love although in "Before you were mine" this is the love
between a mother and daughter and is a lot more obvious than in
"Valentine" which is about the love in a relationship between two
lovers comparing love to an onion. "Valentine" is very cynical and "Before
you were mine" is caring, and through this poem she expresses her love for
her mother. Both poems are full of
imagery giving the reader visions of how it may have been like. As she
reminisces in ?Before you were mine? she thinks of her mother dancing her way
home from church ?cha cha cha?. This is a happy picture of a young woman
embracing life. How ever in ?valentine? Carol Ann Duffy uses imagery for
pictures of suffering and pain caused by heartbreak. The poet uses effective ways
and different techniques to portray her ideas and entertain in both poems such
as similes, "like a lover", used in "Valentine?. The repeated
?l? sound sounds almost as if the poet was teasing us, as if she know the
relationship will not work out. How ever "clear as scent", as used in
"Before you were mine", gives the feeling of sincerity. ? She also uses interesting
metaphors, "Like a moon wrapped in brown paper" this creates an air
of mystery around the subject. and alliteration, "trying to be
truthful" the repetition of the ?t? sound gives a feeling of sincerity and
honesty. Enjambment and caesura are used in ""Before you were
mine" as well as rhetorical questions, creating interest, "the decade
ahead of my loud possessive yell was the best one eh?" I enjoyed studying both
?Valentine? and ?Before you were mine?. But I preferred ?Valentine?. It
interests me how Carol Ann Duffy conceived the idea of comparing love to a
onion. I would like to ask her what inspired her in writing this poem, as it is
unusual and clever. There is a lot of truth in this poem but it is represented
in a very different way to what the reader would of expected from its name. ? ?