Duffy

Writing About Poetry
Stealing

Introduction
• Poem’s title in inverted commas: ‘Stealing’ • Poet’s name: Carol Ann Duffy • Respond to wording of the task • Briefly (two or three lines) explain what happens in the poem • Display an understanding of the poem • Mention the techniques used by Duffy, which you will be discussing

Narcissistic, violent, uncaring; the narrator of Carol Ann Duffy’s dramatic monologue ‘Stealing’ is most certainly an unpleasant character. The narrator, apparently in response to a question, recounts his various thefts, particularly focusing on the theft of a snowman. In the snowman he sees the coldness and loneliness of his own position. Through the narrator’s monologue, Duffy reveals the psychology behind the crimes. I intend to examine Duffy’s use of techniques such as enjambment, imagery and symbolism to present the psychology of this unpleasant character.

Topic Sentences
• Clearly state what the paragraph will be about • Can link back to the previous paragraph

• In the poem’s first stanza, Duffy establishes connections between the narrator and the snowman. • Despite the narrator’s crimes being restricted to theft, the threat of violence runs through the poem.

Analysis
• Identify techniques • Explain how they work. • Do not simply repeat the quotation

Techniques
• Imagery, symbolism, word choice, enjambment, onomatopoeia, half-rhyme, internal rhyme, personification, imagery, simile, metaphor, repetition

The narrator sees similarities between the snowman and himself: “I wanted him, a mate With a mind as cold as the slice of ice Within my own brain.” The personification of „mate‟, which is a halfrhyme with „mute‟ in the previous line, suggests that the narrator is viewing it as an almost human companion. This emphasises the narrator‟s isolation from other people and the loneliness he experiences as a result of this.

The narrator details a number of other thefts, which seem almost pointless: ‘ I joy-ride