Hour Carol Ann Duffy To learn about the

Hour Carol Ann Duffy Ø Ø To learn about the sonnet form. To analyse the poem “Hour” by Duffy.

Analysing Poetry • First step: Subject & message • What is the topic of the poem? • What is it literally about? What is it figuratively about? • Second step: Language • What poetic techniques are used? • What type of lexis/semantic fields are used, and why? • Third Step: Structure • How many stanzas are there, and why? • What is the rhyming scheme? • What is the flow of the poem, and how does it impact the tone?

Sonnet • A 14 line poem, traditionally about love. • Sonnets usually use a strict rhyme scheme and structure. The exact rhyme scheme depends on the type of sonnet. • Sonnets can usually be divided into three quatrains (four lines – ABAB) and a couplet (two lines – CC). • The couplet might also rhyme- if so this is called a rhyming couplet. • Last couplet might signal a “turn” in the poem.

Context • Duffy is a feminist poet • She is well known for poems that give a voice to the dispossessed (people excluded from society); she encourages the reader to put themselves in the shoes of people they might normally dismiss. • Her poetry often engages with the grittier and more disturbing side of life, using black humour like a weapon to make social and political points. • Hour was published in the collection Rapture which explores the highs and lows of a romantic relationship.

Hour Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour, bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich. We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch. For thousands of seconds we kiss; your hair like treasure on the ground; the Midas light turning your limbs to gold. Time slows, for here we are millionaires, backhanding the night so nothing dark will end our shining hour, no jewel hold a candle to the cuckoo spit hung from the blade of grass at your ear, no chandelier or spotlight see you better lit than here. Now. Time hates love, wants love poor, but love spins gold, gold from straw. Duffy has chosen to write this poem using the sonnet form. Highlight and annotate: • The rhyme scheme • The quatrains and rhyming couplet. • Why do you think Duffy has chosen to use the sonnet form in “Hour? ”

Similes & Metaphors 1. Highlight and label all the similes and metaphors in the poem. What initial impression do you have of this relationship? 2. Look for other poetic techniques and annotate: • Personification • Repetition What is the effect on the reader? Find and label these two poetic techniques: • Enjambment • Caesura Why has Duffy used these techniques? What effect do they have?

How might these images be associated with love? What might they suggest about a relationship? Gold/ Treasure Light Time

Imagery Gold/ Treasure/ Money Light/ Dark Time “Bright as a dropped coin…” “The Midas Light” “Love’s time’s beggar…”

Imagery Choose one quote from each category analyse further: “Your hair/ like treasure on the ground” This could suggest that the hair is golden or shiny. Connotations of “treasure” suggest that the hair is precious and important. Simile

Allusions Allusion: a brief and indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural, literary or political importance. It does not describe in detail the person or thing to which it refers. King Midas Rumpelstiltskin

Fairy tale & Myth Allusions • Midas: “The Midas Light” • Rumpelstiltskin: “Spins golf, gold from straw. ” Read the two summaries of the stories: • Why might Duffy has chosen to reference them in the poem? • What might she be suggesting about this relationship? • Does this change the understanding of her message?

Creating a Poem • Choose a Fairy Tale from the list below or one of your own choosing, and write your own romantic poem referencing this story in some way. Fairy Tale Ideas • Snow White • Sleeping Beauty • Beauty and the Beast • Rapunzel • Cinderella