I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

Likewise, in this first stanza, it is one of only two times in the poem that Duffy uses alliteration. ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy contains several literary devices. Duffy is renowned for using the form of poetry to help emphasize the poem’s point and she does that here. This device acts as a mirror for the ups and downs of a relationship. Moreover, the short stanzas followed by longer stanzas and the mix of sentence lengths gives the poem a stuttering feel which just adds to the air of unease that the poem delivers. The tone is unusual in so much as it is a love poem, of sorts, but has an unsettling feel to it due to the way the poem uses an onion as a metaphor for love itself.

It has no rhyming whatsoever save for some repeated words. The poem is written in free verse with no rhyming pattern. ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy tends to deal with a difficult subject matter and is written in the first person in the form of a dramatic monologue, aimed directly at the reader. It is a gift of Duffy’s that she gives away so little in her poems and always leaves one wanting more. It is also trying to show when it comes to love that sentiment and hard work trumps love based on meaningless gifts. However, the suggestion this poem is trying to make is that true love is about more than cliché gifts and that the nature of love means that it can be destructive if not properly tended to. The comparison gets more ambiguous as the poem unfolds and readers become unsure what is the comparison and what is being talked about, love, or the onion. In ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy has done an excellent job of taking a love poem and subverting it using an onion as a metaphor for love itself. ‘Valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy talks about an onion that the poet gives her partner as a valentine-gift.

I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy