Valentine and Hate Poem

The two poems I chose to compare are "Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy, and "Hate Poem" written by Julie Sheehan. While reading these poems, I caught on to several similarities between the two. Both are obviously written about love and at the same time very anti-romantic. It is easy to see that the authors passionately dislike a certain thing in each poem. Sheehan goes on and on about how much she hates her ex. And in the first couple of line of Duffy's poem, readers think she feels the same way, but further into it, you realize she doesn't hate her partner, she just hates the holiday of Valentine's Day. "Hate Poem" has a very harsh tone to it, stating, "I hate you. Truly I do. Everything about me hates everything about you." While "Valentine" isn't as harsh but the author still informs readers her true feelings towards Valentine's Day using several euphemisms.

A big similarity between the two is that both authors use inanimate objects throughout their poems. Sheehan uses several objects such as sock lint, a hair shirt, and a closed window. All very degrading objects to be compared to. While Duffy talks about an onion.

Duffy believes that valentines are very cliche and does not think that a red rose or a satin heart can express a form of love. She bluntly informs her partner to not expect any cheesy valentine on Valentine's Day by giving him an onion inside a brown paper bag. Something very out of the ordinary that a person would give a significant other on such a day. Keep in mind that onions have many different layers. The reasoning behind the onion is that she wants him to look beyond the superficial layer of Valentine's Day and see that this onion is her gift of love and that she doesn't need an expensive present in fancy wrapping paper or a holiday to tell her to express her love.

Sheehan, on the other hand, uses her inanimate objects very negatively. She obviously had her feelings badly hurt and wanted to seek revenge because throughout this entire poem she explains how not just her, but all these different things hate her ex. This is extremely humiliating for that person since all these things are unable to have feelings. But according to Sheehan, they still hate him. She states, "The flick of my wrist hates you. The way I hold my pencil hates you." The author knew this would be very degrading for her ex. That was her goal in writing this poem and she definitely accomplished that.