Name a couple of literary techniques that are used in the poem 'Valentine,' by Carol Ann Duffy?

In Carol Ann Duffy's poem 'Valentine,' she regularly uses metaphor to demonstrate the ways in which an onion can represent the romance of a relationship. In the second line of the first stanza, she describes an onion as a ''moon wrapped in brown paper.'' By saying that the onion IS this rather than IS LIKE this, she has figuratively turned the onion into the moon. On the fourth line however, she uses simile to suggest that the light it promises is 'like' the ''careful undressing of love.''
She also uses personification in fourteenth line, describing the ''fierce kiss.'' This personification gives the onion the actions of a person. This shocks the reader due to the nature of an onion and what an onion would normally represent (bad smell, painful watering eyes, etc.)

Answered by Willow O. English tutor

10001 Views

See similar English GCSE tutors

Related English GCSE answers

All answers ▸

What is the best way to structure an essay?


What is the best way approach an analysis of poetry?


GCSE To Kill A Mockingbird Question - Who are the mockingbird figures in the novel and what is their significance to the novel as a whole?


'How does the writer use language here to convey Mr Fisher's views on books and stories of the past in this extract from Joanne Harris' short story Jigs and Reels?


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences