SPEAKER:
The speaker of the poem is a female, who had sexual contact with a stranger, drank alcohol, and smoked. There is evidence that the speaker is a female, because when she is trying to remember the stranger's name she says: "Simon? Andrew? John?" (15). All of the names she listed are male's names, which indicated that she is a female. Also, she says "get fitter" (26) males don't case as much about their appearance as females do. She also refers to herself in a third person "to Salome's bed."(32)
DICTION:
Matted (6): Means tangled thick hair. Duffy uses the world matted to describe the hair of the man the character has woken up next to. The use of the word gave the impression that the man had had a rough nights sleep.
Crimson (10): A colour that is a rich red which is almost purple. Duffy uses the word to describe the colour of this mans lips. This gives the effect that the man maybe dead as when people are dead their lips begin to turn purple. But this could also represent blood from his mouth as blood is a rich red colour.
Pewter (13): A gray alloy tin, almost like a can. The use of pewter in this line is for a comparison. The word gives the effect of how cold the lips of the man was, which helped lead to the impression that he may be dead.
I'd feel better (15): This shows that the speaker feels guilty fo the actions that she has done, therefore she is trying to cover her guilt for last night with other things, such as food.
were just what needed (22): shows relieve from the mess in her head, as the maid cleaned up her room and brought her a breakfast. After last night, she needed someone to clean up after her and take away all the mess. She says "were just what needed" to emphasize the importance of this moment.
Never again! (24): There is a change in the tone of voice, since the speaker uses exclamation mark. It seems like she is reinforcing herself and trying something new in her life. She is saying "Never again!" because she doesn't want to drink alcohol, smoke and have sex. She wants to start new a forget the past.
I need to clean up my act,
get fitter,
cut out the booze and the fags and the sex. (25-27): This there lines are arranged like a plan for the future, because the speaker sets goals for herself to start something new and "cut out" the past. These lines show that the speaker is ready for the new actions and she already has a plan how to achieve it.
and there, like I said -and ain't life a bitch- (35): She is talking to the person's head that was on a platter, saying "and ain't life a bitch" which makes her sound evil and unlikeable. This is an intertextual reference to John the Baptist, he was beheaded under orders of Herod Antipas for his stepdaughter as a gift.
Crimson (10): A colour that is a rich red which is almost purple. Duffy uses the word to describe the colour of this mans lips. This gives the effect that the man maybe dead as when people are dead their lips begin to turn purple. But this could also represent blood from his mouth as blood is a rich red colour.
Pewter (13): A gray alloy tin, almost like a can. The use of pewter in this line is for a comparison. The word gives the effect of how cold the lips of the man was, which helped lead to the impression that he may be dead.
I'd feel better (15): This shows that the speaker feels guilty fo the actions that she has done, therefore she is trying to cover her guilt for last night with other things, such as food.
were just what needed (22): shows relieve from the mess in her head, as the maid cleaned up her room and brought her a breakfast. After last night, she needed someone to clean up after her and take away all the mess. She says "were just what needed" to emphasize the importance of this moment.
Never again! (24): There is a change in the tone of voice, since the speaker uses exclamation mark. It seems like she is reinforcing herself and trying something new in her life. She is saying "Never again!" because she doesn't want to drink alcohol, smoke and have sex. She wants to start new a forget the past.
I need to clean up my act,
get fitter,
cut out the booze and the fags and the sex. (25-27): This there lines are arranged like a plan for the future, because the speaker sets goals for herself to start something new and "cut out" the past. These lines show that the speaker is ready for the new actions and she already has a plan how to achieve it.
and there, like I said -and ain't life a bitch- (35): She is talking to the person's head that was on a platter, saying "and ain't life a bitch" which makes her sound evil and unlikeable. This is an intertextual reference to John the Baptist, he was beheaded under orders of Herod Antipas for his stepdaughter as a gift.
Caesura:
Strange. What was his name? Peter? (14): There are two pauses within this line of poetry, and one pause on the end. The first pause gives us the impression that the speaker is thinking, as she then leads on to ask a question. So during the first pause she is thinking of a question. As the second pause is after a question, the speaker is obviously trying to come up with an answer to her own question. Here answer is Peter but instead of having a full stop at the end of Peter there is a question mark. This shows the uncertainty of the speaker, as she is not fully able to answer her own question. If we look at all the pauses in the line we notice that the speaker is truly hesitant. As she keeps pausing to think and cannot speak without pausing.
Simon? Andrew? John? I knew I'd feel better (15): This line is the beginning of stanza 2, but is continuing on the same idea as the last line of the last stanza. This line is trying to answer the question "What was his name?". The continuation of pauses with question marks shows even more the uncertainty of the speaker. The speaker says "John?" and continues on with a different topic in what would make her feel better. This gives us the impression that the speaker has either given up on trying to think of the name of this man, or that the man's name is John, but she does not want to think about him so quickly (as this all happens in the same line) changes subject.
Yes. And as for the latter, (28): The speaker of the poem uses caesura after the word "Yes." to make an emphasis on it. She uses it, to show that she is trying to convince herself to stay away from sex, alcohol and cigarettes as mentioned in the line 27; it also shows her ways of thinking as if those are her thoughts in her head.
Simon? Andrew? John? I knew I'd feel better (15): This line is the beginning of stanza 2, but is continuing on the same idea as the last line of the last stanza. This line is trying to answer the question "What was his name?". The continuation of pauses with question marks shows even more the uncertainty of the speaker. The speaker says "John?" and continues on with a different topic in what would make her feel better. This gives us the impression that the speaker has either given up on trying to think of the name of this man, or that the man's name is John, but she does not want to think about him so quickly (as this all happens in the same line) changes subject.
Yes. And as for the latter, (28): The speaker of the poem uses caesura after the word "Yes." to make an emphasis on it. She uses it, to show that she is trying to convince herself to stay away from sex, alcohol and cigarettes as mentioned in the line 27; it also shows her ways of thinking as if those are her thoughts in her head.
ENJAMBMENT:
Definition: A pause or break within the line of a poetry. (Quizlet)
Enjambment is used throughout the poem especially whenever the speaker lists or describes the situation she is in. Enjambment is used to show the critical thinking of the speaker and to create a vivid idea of the scene and background information beyond the story the poet is trying to tell.