The speaker explores the pain of love through word choice, tone, contrast and structure. In the poem the speaker presents their partner with the unconventional valentine gift of an onion. The speaker then goes on to use the onion as an unusual metaphor to describe love. Duffy challenges the clichéd valentines day version of love and presents the more real and raw version of love. It also presents the truth that love hurts and can be sinister and painful.
This gives me the impression that she feels rather cynical about Valentines Day. Whether or not this view was created prior to bad relationships, it is not known. It can then be said that because of this, she ahs made this poem anything but sentimental, as what you would usually get in a romantic poem. Throughout the poem, Duffy uses an `onion` to represent the symbol of love in her poem, Valentine. Again, she is mocking what would usually be given as a Valentines Day present.
Wasn't I fragrant and young?" show her bitterness at being betrayed and sadness at that change. In comparison to the clown punk both poems use the character names as the title to make them extended metaphors of who they are, both poems rely on strong visual imagery to engage the reader. Like Medusa, the Clown Punk is a character we wouldn't really want to look
“Monologue for an Onion” is a poem by Suji Kwock Kim that is separated into 10 triplets. The poem describes the “chopping” of a metaphorical onion. The onion is one side or one person in a rocky relationship between lovers who are struggling to find peace and balance. The first triplet tells how someone is being emotionally hurt by their companion, the “onion”, and is “crying” (l. 1), but continues to stick with him or her, getting to know them more and more by “peeling away my body, layer by layer” (l. 3). The lover continues to get closer and closer, “peeling away” (l. 3) the layers of his or her companion, the “husks, cut flesh, all the debris of pursuit” (l. 5) piling up.
The speaker is trying to persuade his lover to have actual intercourse with his him, but as she refuses, he says that they had already performed intercourse- in the flea. In ‘To His Coy Mistress’ metaphysical imagery is also used, but in a different way: the speaker is attempting to woo his love by explaining how, if they had more time, they could do everything she wants to do, and the speaker could love his lover forever. This idea of love, however, is not presented in ‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’, ‘A Woman to her Lover’ and ‘First Love’, as they present love to be less intercourse-based, and more on marriage and care. ‘To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’ is portraying a message to young women in general, telling them that they should get married quickly, as time will pass quickly, and by the time they would get old, it would be too late. ‘A Woman to her Lover’ is portraying that women should be treated as equals to men, and loved in an equal fashion.
Much Ado is a play based around the theme of deliberate deception- sometimes this deception is malevolent and sometimes benevolent but much of the play hinges around them and their effect on the characters. An example of malevolent deception would be Don John trying to ruin Hero and Claudio’s marriage whereas an example of benevolent deception would be the gulling’s of Beatrice and Benedick in an attempt to get them to admit their true feelings for one another to get them to wed. The gulling scenes both rely on Beatrice and Benedick being persuaded into believing that they are in love with one another, this is dependent on them ‘accidentally overhearing’ the other characters talking about them whilst being within earshot but so as not to be seen. The majority of the subplot is dependent on these gulling scenes being successful as if they hadn’t worked or if Beatrice and Benedick hadn’t been so susceptible to this benevolent deception than there wouldn’t be much of a story. These gulling scenes provide comic relief in contrast to Don John’s malevolent deception and make Much Ado lean towards being a comedy rather than a tragedy as they use dramatic irony for humour.
As told by an onion, Kim’s poem describes mankind’s pursuit for truth through the simple action of peeling and preparing an onion. In the beginning of the poem the onion is apologetic for making the peeler cry despite his refusal to stop. This to me is a metaphor that describes a person’s desire and persistence to dig for answers even when it is harmful to themselves or other parties involved. The onion’s attitude in the beginning is somewhat neutral but changes throughout the poem as it becomes evident through the onion’s perspective that the person peeling is in search of its “heart” leaving behind the “debris
Shakespeare uses this metaphor to give the reader/audience an image in their minds of what Laertes thinks of Hamlet and what he is doing to Ophelia. The image of a blossom is beautiful, starting to grow to its full potential, sprouting, young, innocent, etc. But when a worm comes and eats/destroys the blossom, it is no longer beautiful, worthy, long-lasting, innocent, but becomes warn-down and not useful. When Laertes says this advice to Ophelia it gives her the picture that because Hamlet cannot love her, she should not become attached, for if she does, she will become warned down and tired. This strategy of a metaphor characterizes Laertes as someone who thinks of the future and is wise and logical.
Holmes, 1 David Holmes Jennifer Jennings English 100 February 01, 2013 Analysis of “Monologue for an Onion” - Revision In the poem, “Monologue for an Onion,” by Suji Kwock Kim, the onion represents the poet and the character she seems to be referring to as the peeler is her companion. The poet uses the simple action of peeling an onion as a metaphor for complex and hurtful relationships between people. She artfully weaves images and meaning between the action and the relationship it represents. The poem suggests that the poet is, in some way, being victimized by the one who is cutting up the onion, the peeler/her companion. The metaphoric onion is used to tell her companion that she is heartless, so he might as well stop trying to get to her core because there isn’t one.
This contrasts to where Romeo is with Juliet and time passes very quickly. Romero understands how deceptive, gripping and unforgiving love is. He explains that “love is a smoke made with the fumes of sighs… a madness most discreet.” When Romeo explains the smoke, he is expressing how love is a mystery and you can always understand it all. He says they are “fumes of sighs.” The part of this phrase which stands out to me is Romeo using the word sigh. People sigh when they are upset or angry.