Valentine - Carol Ann Duffy

Context

-Written in Free verse and irregular stanzas

-Scottish, lesbian and Catholic upbringing contributes to her resistance of dominant cultural narratives

-subverts the passivity often associated with women in love poetry

-known for her accessible yet intellectually rich poetry

-the conceit is reminiscent of metaphysical poets such as John Donne, who approached a ordinary objects in original and unusual/surprising ways

-the poem engages in second wave feminist ideas. Challenging patriarchal and male-dominated constructions of romance