1. Scottish Text Final Question
Carol Anne Duffy
Scottish Text Final Question

2. Scottish Text – Final Question Due Monday 14th September
Worth 10 marks at Higher
Marks are likely to be picked up in 5 pairs of 2.
Answers can be extended bullet points or formal continuous prose
You can be awarded up to 2 marks for identifying commonality between printed and chosen poems.
You can pick up a maximum of 2 marks by dealing with the poem printed on the exam paper.
The other 6 marks must come by way of reference to the other poems by Duffy – not printed in the exam!

3. Practise: In pairs -
Prelim question: How does the poet convey different perspectives of the same theme.
Identify theme:
What are the different perspectives:
Example from Havisham (printed in the poem):
Select three appropriate quotations from Valentine:
Complete extended comments (STAR) for each quotation – Keep the actual question in mind as you analyse.

4. Commonality (2 marks)
Havisham is a poem that deals with the theme of love. It is told through the first person persona narrative of the fictional Miss Havisham who, having been jilted at the altar, is left filled with spite and bitterness towards her ex lover. This suggests the perspective that love can leave someone tormented and damaged due to the hate that springs from the lost love.
Valentine is also a poem that deals with the same theme of love, however displays a very different perspective. It is also told through first person narrative and is a one sided conversation explaining their gift of an onion on Valentine's Day. The gift is used to explore love in a more honest and realistic perspective, suggesting that traditional notions of love should be rejected and that relationships should be more pragmatic.

5. Extract (2) Havisham
Duffy explores this perspective of love in Havisham through her description of her desire for a "male corpse for a long slow honeymoon." Duffy uses traditional notions of love, weddings and the start of marriage through her reference to a 'honeymoon', where we should expect the start of a loving relationship, happiness and enjoyment. However she uses a very dark, sinister and menacing tone through her reference for a desire for a male 'corpse' to celebrate with. The reference to necrophilia suggests how twisted and damaged she has become. Her anger towards her ex-partner for never having had her own honeymoon leaves her fantasising about this with her dead ex lover. This suggests her extreme anger towards her ex lover and how broken and damaged the loss of love can leave someone.

6. Other (6)
The perspective of love in Valentine differs from Havisham as instead of describing the bitter resentment that a lover leaves someone with, Valentine shows the desire of a lover to maintain and strengthen a relationship through honesty and openness. She describes love as a "wobbling photo of grief” that will “blind you with tears." This extended metaphor of the onion is used to compare love to an overwhelming feeling of grief. This word choice of 'wobbling' suggests how moved and distraught love can sometimes make people. Comparing love to the pain of grief suggests how overwhelmingly overcome with sadness one can sometimes feel in a relationship which is a more truthful and realistic perspective on love.

7. Similarly, Duffy shows a perspective on love when she writes, ‘I am trying to be truthful.” The structure of making this line central to the poem suggests that honesty is the central and most important thing in any relationship, not what one would expect to state on Valentine ’s Day. Suggesting being honest as the most important thing is a less romantic idea but actually much more healthy and a beneficial gift to a relationship. The use of first person narrative and personal pronoun suggests that this is a universal message to all couples that we all need to be honest for love and relationships to work.

8. Lastly, she shows her rejection to traditional conventions of love in ‘Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring.’ This metaphor comparing the final layer of an onion to a wedding ring suggests she believes the final stage to a relationship being marriage is suffocating and harmful through her word choice of ‘shrinks’ suggesting marriage is harmful to a relationship. The fact she describe is as ‘Lethal’ using an abrupt one word minor sentence suggests how quickly marriage can end a relationship.

9. 10 Mark Question - Thursday 24th
Using your knowledge of War Photographer and at least one other poem show how Duffy reflects on a subject to develop the main concerns of the poem.
Identify two poems and the commonality.
Quote from War Photographer – identifying key technique and answering question.
3 x Quotations/techniques from other poem – ensure analysis links to question/theme