Darkness and love

Today we looked at the first 2002 Close Reading, about music. Iin my opinion this is the most difficult passage there has been in recent years, mainly because many students whose work I marked that year didn’t really have the background knowledge (about the Dark Ages, Guido Monaco, Gregorian plainsong and so on) to make them feel comfortable with the topic. Also, there’s that rather odd image of the 1000-year-long corridor with those Dark Age people cowering from the sun (why the sun rather than our bright lights and music?) at the other end.

Anyway, the questions are normal enough, and this is homework for the next class. Remember that there’s no class next week, since it’s the February holiday, so can I suggest that you do a literature essay on “Valentine” as well as this as next week’s homework? See below.

The only other thing we covered in this class was Carol Ann Duffy’s “Valentine”, a mainly very unromantic view of love. Though it’s in free verse (ie unrhymed and with irregular rhythm) it does have a structure, pivoting round the central “I am trying to be truthful”. We noticed that the first half is similar in many ways to the second half, but that the second half is extremely unromantic and indeed quite sinister, with the word “Lethal” suggesting the deadly nature of the offered love (if it’s later spurned?) and the last word lingering uneasily in the memory: “knife”.

The poem’s effect depends largely on its imagery - mainly about the onion - and that balanced structure that we noticed. Do bear in mind that the “voice” isn’t necessarily that of Duffy herself – she’s not known for killing her former lovers, despite her rather alarming appearance above.

I’d suggest as a poetry essay - though feel free to choose another question/poem/play/novel

Choose a poem which deals with some unpleasant or sinister issues. Show how the poet communicates these unpleasant or sinister ideas and comment on what final impression is left in the mind of the reader.