Discuss How Carol Ann Duffy Makes Effective Use Of Metaphor. Essay

Discuss How Carol Ann Duffy Makes Effective Use Of Metaphor. In Valentine, Carol Ann Duffy aims metaphors to illustrate andattempt to explain the complex subject of whap. Valentine is a reallypoignant, meaningful poem which is on a very personal level withC.A.D. It seems as if she is drawing on personal experiences.The general tone of the poem appears to be one of bitterness andresentment. Forceful comments such as, Here.. and Take itsuggest that she still holds hidden anger towards the events fromwhich she is drawing her memories.The main metaphor that she uses is of course an onion. She uses anonion to comparison the different aspects of love in a number of ways. Inthe first instance of C.A.Ds use of an onion she uses it to comparethe fact that both an onion and love have many layers. She proposesthat this is a huge similarity between the two apparently unrelatedobjects.Secondly, C.A.D uses the onions shape and colour to hypothecate how lifechanging love can be. She describes the onion as a moon wrapped in dark-brown paper What she means by this is that love can light up yourheart but that it often becomes clouded by other issues and problems-the brown paper symbolizes the barrier. In another way, the brownpaper could symbolize boundaries people sometimes erect because theyare scared or cynical.C.A.D. seems to be cynical about love-all throughout the poem sheseems to want to explode the clichs and what most people wouldconsider as romance. Perhaps this may be because she has had a badexperience of love which she has then illustrated through delivery in herpoem.Just after this she states it promises light.. which means thatC.A.D is suggesting that sometimes a... ...reak.In the final stanza, C.A.D writes, the air tasted of electricity..She is referring to the charged atmosphere caused by adolescenthormones. Obviously the classroom is going away to be full of hormonesbecause of all the children. Another reference to the heavily chargedatmosphere is, the heavy, sexy sky.. which just supports theatmosphere being hormonally charged.Carol Ann Duffys use of metaphors is very strengthive andillustrative-it causes readers to form subconscious links betweenobjects which in reality are apparently unrelated. Without the use ofmetaphors, her poems would be entirely different and I am not surethey would be as flowing or as descriptive. The metaphors are oftenthe basis upon which C.A.Ds descriptions are built. She uses them togreat effect by blending and layering metaphors with other adjectivesand descriptions.