What the exam asks
At HL, you can use Duffy’s collection in one of three assessments (remember the no-reuse rule: once you use a work for one component, you cannot use it for another):
- Paper 2 (comparative essay, 25 marks): You answer one of four general questions comparing two literary works studied in class, written closed-book. “Valentine” excels on questions about how writers use everyday objects as symbols, subvert inherited conventions or rituals, address an implied listener, or use endings to darken earlier promises. Under the 2026 criteria, you are marked on Criterion B1 (5 marks for analysing and evaluating textual features and broader authorial choices) and Criterion B2 (5 marks for comparative analysis).
- Individual oral (internal assessment, 40 marks): At 23 lines, the entire poem fits comfortably inside the 40-line extract limit, paired with a non-literary body of work on a global issue such as how commercial culture commodifies intimacy or how possessive love slides into control.
- HL essay (20 marks): A 1,200–1,500-word formal essay following a line of inquiry across several of Duffy’s poems—for instance, how Duffy uses domestic objects and direct address to expose the power dynamics inside intimate relationships.
Core ideas
Irregular free verse and visual white space
The poem is written in free verse across 23 lines divided into seven irregular stanzas of 1, 4, 5, 1, 1, 5 and 6 lines. Duffy avoids a regular metre or rhyme scheme because neat, predictable music would sound like the greeting-card verse her speaker despises. Instead, three stanzas are isolated single lines (stanzas 1, 4 and 5) surrounded by white space, and single-word sentences (“Here.”, “Take it.”, “Lethal.”) stand on their own lines. This layout controls pace and emphasis: the white space forces pauses that mimic the physical act of holding out a gift, waiting for a reaction, and speaking with plain, unvarnished deliberation.
The extended metaphor (conceit) of the onion
Like the seventeenth-century Metaphysical poets who compared lovers to compasses or fleas, Duffy builds the poem around a conceit—an extended metaphor that links two startlingly different things (romantic love and a kitchen onion) and tracks the comparison stage by stage. Each physical property of the onion reveals a different truth about love:
| Stage of the onion | Textual detail | Quality of love revealed |
|---|---|---|
| Outer skin | “a moon wrapped in brown paper” (stanza 2, line 3) | Traditional lunar romance hidden inside plain, everyday reality |
| Peeling the layers | “the careful undressing of love” (stanza 2, line 5) | Patient, tender intimacy that cannot be rushed by commercial tokens |
| Acidic sting in the eyes | “blind you with tears” (stanza 3, line 7) | Emotional pain and grief as unavoidable parts of deep attachment |
| Sharp taste on the mouth | “Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips” (stanza 6, line 14) | Passionate, lasting imprint that claims the lover |
| Cut cross-section | “platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring” (stanza 7, line 19) | Formal commitment and marriage that also tighten and constrict |
| Raw smell on the blade | “cling to your fingers” and “cling to your knife” (stanza 7, lines 22–23) | Lingering possessiveness and the threat of domestic violence or emotional destruction |