Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy: context, form and key methods

The speaker rejects romantic clichés and gives her lover an onion, a more honest symbol of love. This poem is in copyright, so it is described mainly in our own words.

Practise this lesson free (6 questions)

Context and Duffy's purpose

Carol Ann Duffy was the UK's Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019, the first woman in the role. Valentine appeared in her collection Mean Time (1993).
Duffy challenges the commercial, sentimental side of Valentine's Day. She suggests that real love is more complicated, and sometimes more painful, than cards and roses suggest.

Form and structure

Free verse with irregular stanzas. Some stanzas are a single word or line, which makes them stand out.
It opens by rejecting traditional gifts and then announces: "I give you an onion". The rest of the poem explains why.
The speaker uses imperatives, telling the lover to take the gift, which makes her sound forceful and direct.

Language and key methods

Extended metaphor: the onion stands for love. It is wrapped in brown paper and compared to the moon; it makes you cry; its strong scent stays on your fingers; its rings can shrink to the size of a wedding ring.
Subverting clichés: instead of a red rose or a cute card, she offers something honest and practical.
Dark ending: the scent clings to the knife, and the single-word line "Lethal" hints at the danger and possessiveness of love.
Worked example

Compare how honesty in love is presented in Valentine and Love's Dog.

  1. Both poems reject a simple, sweet view of love.
  2. Duffy's extended metaphor of an onion; Hadfield's list of loves and hates.
  3. AO3: Duffy challenges commercial romance; Hadfield writes a modern list poem.

Answer: Both Duffy and Hadfield reject a sentimental view of love and show its darker side. Duffy's extended metaphor of the onion explains that love can bring tears and possessiveness, and the one-word line "Lethal" warns that love can be dangerous. Hadfield's list poem sets what the speaker loves about love against what she hates, so every positive is matched by a negative. While Duffy uses one vivid symbol, developed through imperatives that make the speaker sound forceful, Hadfield uses repetition and strange, unexpected words. Both suggest that honest love includes pain as well as pleasure.

Key idea

Duffy, Poet Laureate 2009 to 2019; Mean Time, 1993. Free verse; one-word lines; imperatives. Onion as extended metaphor: moon, tears, scent, wedding ring, knife; rejects clichés; "Lethal".

Key words
Context
The circumstances in which a text was written and set, such as historical events, social attitudes and the writer's life (AO3 in the GCSE, AO4 in the International GCSE).
Form
The type and shape of a text: for example sonnet, ballad, free verse, tragedy, comedy, novel or play.
Speaker
The voice of a poem. The speaker is not always the poet.
Symbol
An object, colour or image that represents a bigger idea, such as the conch in Lord of the Flies standing for order.
Free verse
Poetry without a regular rhyme scheme or metre.
Extended metaphor
A metaphor developed over several lines or a whole text.

All GCSE and International GCSE English Literature key terms and definitions →

Quick check

Try two quick questions

See if it has sunk in. Answers are marked straight away.

Check you have got it

Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.

Practise this lesson free (6 questions)All GCSE and International GCSE English Literature lessons

Video for this lesson coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube

Sources and references

Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.

Related lessons