1. art and entertainment
2. books and literature
3. poetry

Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems for
National 5 Scottish Text Questions
 Anne Hathaway

Havisham

Valentine
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems

All three poems deal
with different aspects
of a common theme
of love and
relationships.
Havisham
portrays the bitterness and
vengeful hatred of love that
has ended sourly.
Anne Hathaway
portrays the passion of love in
a relationship that was happy
and fulfilling.
Valentine
portrays a pragmatic view of
love rather than a romantic
view, honestly acknowledging
that it can be deep and faithful
but also potentially hurtful and
not permanent.
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Anne Hathaway
Passion of love in happy, fulfilling relationship:
 “My living laughing love” Alliteration emphasises vivacity,
fun and passion of her husband.

“The bed we loved in was a spinning world / of forests,
castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas” Metaphor - turning Earth
and features of setting in Shakespeare’s plays - conveys
how actively and imaginatively they made love.

“My lover’s words / were shooting stars which fell to earth
as kisses / on these lips” Possessive pronoun shows
closeness; view of him as lover - far more exciting than just
husband. Metaphor describes scintillating scope of words
spoken while making love, leading to passionate kissing.

“Romance / and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste”
References to Shakespeare’s plays suggest passion and
excitement of sex; references to senses show sensual,
physical pleasure of their relationship.
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Havisham
Bitterness and vengeful hatred of love that has ended sourly:
 “Beloved sweetheart bastard” Oxymoron to show contrast between
former and present feelings about lover who jilted her. Plosive
consonants as if spitting out words in bitterness.
 “ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with” Metaphor for
veins, prominent as she has aged, indicating violent desire to kill
former lover.
 “Puce curses that are sounds not words.” Livid purple colour
symbolises intense rage and incomplete sentence suggests
incoherency of enraged sounds that fail to become complete words
to curse him.
 “I suddenly bite awake” Her erotic dream ends violently as kissing
becomes biting to hurt him instead of to please.
 “Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon” Persona issues
a challenging command. Ultimate revenge would be his death and
opportunity to brutalise his body over extended period instead of
pleasuring him on honeymoon.
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Valentine
Pragmatic view of love rather than romantic, honestly acknowledging
that it can be deep and faithful but potentially hurtful and not
permanent.
 “Not a red rose” Prominence of “Not” as first word in line shows
rejection of tradition romantic love symbolised by “red rose”.
 “It will blind you with tears / like a lover.” Combination of
alliteration and simile to emphasise that like chemicals in onions
which cause tears, so will lovers make us weep.

“Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips /possessive and faithful / as we
are / for as long as we are” Metaphor of lingering taste of onion
suggesting passion lasting some time and “faithful” exclusive
relationship at present but only for so long – not interminably.

“Lethal. / Its scent will cling to your fingers, / cling to your knife”
Abiding odour of onion clinging to fingers suggests attempt to hold
on but “knife” implies wounding and pain of ending relationship,
cutting someone out of one’s life.
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Common idea in all three poems: passion.
“spinning world”; “shooting stars”;
“Romance/and drama”. (Love and sensual
passion in Anne Hathaway)
 “Prayed for it / so hard”; “Puce curses”;
“Love’s/hate”. (Passionate hatred in
Havisham.)
 “Fierce kiss”; “possessive”; “Its scent will
cling”. (Intense, dangerously possessive
passion in Valentine.)

Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Common idea in all three poems: sex.
 “his touch/a verb dancing in the centre of a
noun”; “the bed/a page beneath his writer’s
hands”; “by touch, by scent, by taste”
(Imaginative, sensual sex in Anne Hathaway)
 “the lost body over me, /my fluent tongue in its
mouth in its ear then down” (Jilted bride’s erotic
dreams in Havisham)

“the careful undressing of love”; “fierce kiss”
(Removal of onion skin compared with
undressing a lover and intensity of physical
relationship in Valentine.)
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Common idea in all three poems: relationships.
 “my widow’s head”; “that next best bed”; “the
bed we loved in” (Memories of a happy marriage
in Anne Hathaway)
 “Spinster”; “white veil”; “stabbed at a wedding
cake”; “long slow honeymoon” (Bitter feelings
about being a jilted bride – an engagement that
didn’t work out – in Havisham)
 “faithful as we are / for as long as we are”; “a
wedding-ring / if you like”; (Pragmatic view that
relationships are finite - eventually partners will
stop being faithful – and casual, take-it-or-leave
it attitude to marriage in Valentine)
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Common idea in two of three poems: love brings
unhappiness.
 “It will blind you with tears”; “make your
reflection / a wobbling photo of grief”;
“possessive”; “Lethal” (Lovers make us weep or
can become dangerously possessive which
destroys love – Valentine)
 “wished him dead”; “Whole days / in bed cawing
Nooooo at the wall”; “Don’t think it’s only the
heart that b-b-b-breaks.” (Desire for vengeance
and deep depression – Havisham)
 “Romance / and drama”; “My living laughing
love” (CONTRAST with the happiness love brings
in Anne Hathaway)
Comparing and Contrasting Duffy Poems
Common idea in two of three poems: wounding
and pain.
 “fierce kiss”; “Lethal”; “cling to your knife”
(Intensity of love can be destructive; “knife”
suggests cutting someone out of one’s life,
causing hurt and pain – Valentine)
 “ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle
with”; “I suddenly bite awake”; “red balloon
bursting…Bang”; “stabbed at a wedding cake”;
“male corpse” (Violent words, including vengeful
sexual violence – Havisham)
 “I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head /
as he held me upon that next best bed.”
(CONTRAST cherished memories of a happy,
loving marriage ended only by death of the
husband in Anne Hathaway)