Anne Hathaway
Passion of love in happy, fulfilling relationship:
“My living laughing love” Alliteration emphasises vivacity, fun and passion of her husband.
“The bed we loved in was a spinning world / of forests, castles, torchlight, clifftops, seas” Metaphor - turning Earth and features of setting in Shakespeare’s plays - conveys how actively and imaginatively they made love.
“My lover’s words / were shooting starswhich fell to earth as kisses / on these lips” Possessive pronoun shows closeness; view of him as lover - far more exciting than just husband. Metaphor describes scintillating scope of words spoken while making love, leading to passionate kissing.
“Romance / and drama played by touch, by scent, by taste” References to Shakespeare’s plays suggest passion and excitement of sex; references to senses show sensual, physical pleasure of their relationship.
Valentine
Pragmatic view of love rather than romantic, honestly acknowledging that it can be deep and faithful but potentially hurtful and not permanent.
“Not a red rose” Prominence of “Not” as first word in line shows rejection of tradition romantic love symbolised by “red rose”.
“It will blind you with tears / like a lover.” Combination of alliteration and simile to emphasise that like chemicals in onions which cause tears, so will lovers make us weep.
“Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips /possessive and faithful / as we are / for as long as we are” Metaphor of lingering taste of onion suggesting passion lasting some time and “faithful” exclusive relationship at present but only for so long – not interminably.
“Lethal. / Its scent will cling to your fingers, / cling to your knife” Abiding odour of onion clinging to fingers suggests attempt to hold on but “knife” implies wounding and pain of ending relationship, cutting someone out of one’s life.
Common idea in all three poems: passion.
“spinning world”; “shooting stars”; “Romance/and drama”. (Love and sensual passion in Anne Hathaway)
“Prayed for it / so hard”; “Puce curses”; “Love’s/hate”. (Passionate hatred in Havisham.)
“Fierce kiss”; “possessive”; “Its scent will cling”. (Intense, dangerously possessive passion in Valentine.)
Common idea in all three poems: sex.
“his touch/a verb dancing in the centre of a noun”; “the bed/a page beneath his writer’s hands”; “by touch, by scent, by taste” (Imaginative, sensual sex in Anne Hathaway)
“the lost body over me, /my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear then down” (Jilted bride’s erotic dreams in Havisham)
“the careful undressing of love”; “fierce kiss” (Removal of onion skin compared with undressing a lover and intensity of physical relationship in Valentine.)
Common idea in all three poems: sex.
“his touch/a verb dancing in the centre of a noun”; “the bed/a page beneath his writer’s hands”; “by touch, by scent, by taste” (Imaginative, sensual sex in Anne Hathaway)
“the lost body over me, /my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear then down” (Jilted bride’s erotic dreams in Havisham)
“the careful undressing of love”; “fierce kiss” (Removal of onion skin compared with undressing a lover and intensity of physical relationship in Valentine.)
Common idea in two of three poems: wounding and pain.
“fierce kiss”; “Lethal”; “cling to your knife” (Intensity of love can be destructive; “knife” suggests cutting someone out of one’s life, causing hurt and pain – Valentine)
“ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with”; “I suddenly bite awake”; “red balloon bursting…Bang”; “stabbed at a wedding cake”; “male corpse” (Violent words, including vengeful sexual violence – Havisham)
“I hold him in the casket of my widow’s head / as he held me upon that next best bed.” (CONTRAST cherished memories of a happy, loving marriage ended only by death of the husband in Anne Hathaway)