The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman. Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate with a mind as cold as the slice of ice within my own brain. I started with the head. Better off dead than giving in, not taking what you want He weighed a ton; his torso, frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough. Sometimes I steal things I don't need. I joy-ride cars to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look. I'm a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera. I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob. A stranger's bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this -Aah. It took some time. Reassembled in the yard, he didn't look the same. I took a run and booted him Again. Again. My breath ripped out in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing alone amongst lumps of snow, sick of the world. Boredom. Mostly I'm so bored I could eat myself. One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once, flogged it, but the snowman was strangest.

You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?

‘Stealing’

Carol Ann Duffy

Listen to the poem:http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/poetduffy/stealingrev2.shtml

This poem is a dramatic monologue. The speaker is an anti-social figure who steals things because they are bored. Duffy is NOT the speaker in this poem, she writes it because this happened to her neighbours, and she was trying to understand the person who stole the snowman. Tone:

casual, talking tone.

The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman. Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate with a mind as cold as the slice of ice within my own brain. I started with the head.

The poems begins as if

the speaker is

responding to a question

they have been asked.

The speaker wants a “mate”. This suggests that he is an isolated figure. The speaker

seems emotionally cold – he has no feelings “a mind as cold as the slice of ice within my

own brain”. Simile- effect?

Brutal imagery- does slice connect with head?

Onomatopoeic- effect?Enjambment- effect? Why?

Better off dead than giving in, not taking what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso, frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough.

This suggests

that he doesn’t

care about other

people. What

kind of perso

n

likes to know

children will cry?

These rhyming words emphasise the excitement as well as the coldness.

Negative, destructive language

Metaphor- effect?

Onomatopoeic- was s/he looking for sympathy? Help?

ENJAMBEMENT??? Effect?

Sometimes I steal things I don't need. I joy-ride cars to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look. I'm a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera. I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob. A stranger's bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this -Aah.

This person steals because he is bored. He

has no purpose. He joy-rides cars to

nowhere – there is no reason for him to do

it. He is an isolated figure.

This line almost sounds like the speaker in the poem is

acting – he is thinking about his ‘performance’. He is detached from reality.

Disconnected from him/her?

Onomatopoeia- why?

Is s/he aware of doing stealing? Boredom? Script, rather than real life?

Metaphor-effect?

It took some time. Reassembled in the yard, he didn't look the same. I took a run and booted him Again. Again. My breath ripped out in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing alone amongst lumps of snow, sick of the world.

The speaker in the poem tries to

rebuild the snowman but it doesn’t

look right. He responds with

violence because he is frustrated.

He kicked the snowman until it was

ruined.

He was “alone” – this reinforces

how isolated he is. He is cut off

from society.

Repetition of short sentences continually throughout the poem- why? Effect?

Isolated? Alone? Sorry? Feeling sorry for them?

Onomatopoeia- effect?

Boredom. Mostly I'm so bored I could eat myself. One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once, flogged it, but the snowman was strangest.You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?

The poem ends with a question. This suggests that nothing has been resolved in the poem. The speaker in the poem

still feels isolated.

The reader doesn’t

believe that he will

learn to play. He

won’t be bothered

to learn.

Structure• Although the poem is written in five equal Stanzas, there

is no regularity in the lines. Why? What might this symbolise? The irregularity of the stealer’s life?

• Sometimes the end of one line runs into the next line (enjambment). What is the effect of enjambment in these examples?

• I joy-ride cars / to nowhere • I took a run / and booted him again • My breath ripped out / in rags • In each case, the line breaks 'act out' what is being

described.

Language • Although the poem is about I, it is not the poet herself

who is talking to us. Do you think the poem is told in the voice of a man or a woman, a boy or a girl? There is no way of telling - it is deliberately ambiguous, a mystery voice.

• The poet appears to be responding to a question someone has asked. 'The most unusual thing I ever stole?' S/he continues to 'talk' to the reader throughout the poem and so the language of the poem sounds like natural speech. S/he asks us to respond ('You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?') and so we feel directly involved.

Language

• The speaker glamorises themselves and what they have done, almost as if they are imagining themselves as the star of a film. At times s/he even seems to be speaking lines from a script: 'I sigh like this - Aah.'

• Some of the language is violent and destructive. 'The slice of ice within my own brain. ''My breath ripped out in rags.'‘ I'm so bored I could eat myself.' It shocks and surprises us. Is this perhaps to emphasise the lack of order in the speaker's life?

Imagery and sound• The central image is that of the snowman alone

in someone's empty yard in the middle of the night - an image of dark and icy cold:

.. beneath the winter moon ..

.. a mind as cold as the slice of ice / within my own brain .. .. frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill / piercing my gut ..

• How does this image add to the impact of the poem?

• Well, there is an obvious parallel between the ice-cold snowman, alone in his yard, and the speaker, '.. standing / alone among lumps of snow ..'

• The parallel is underlined by the speaker themselves when they describe the 'ice within my own brain', and the 'chill piercing my gut' - as if the snowman is inside them, as well as on the outside. The snowman, in other words, stands as a Symbol for the cold and loneliness of the speaker's own situation. Because the speaker smashes the snowman up ('booted him. Again. Again') it is also symbolic of his or her self-destructive behaviour.

Sound• The poem replicates natural speech, so

that we can 'hear' the voice of the speaker talking to us - especially since s/he asks us direct questions. We can even hear the pauses as s/he adds details to the story. 'A snowman. / Midnight.'

Ideas• What the poet is trying to say in this poem? All the

following ideas are contained in the poem: it's down to you to decide which you think are the most important.

• She is sympathising with the speaker - who is obviously lonely and bored and needs someone to pay attention to him/her.

• She is trying to understand why anyone would want to commit a senseless crime. If there is enough snow for someone to have made a snowman, surely there is enough snow for the speaker to have made one too, so why steal one?

• She is examining someone else's attitude to life - 'Better off dead than giving in.'

• We are shown the speaker's loneliness (s/he needs the snowman as a 'mate'; s/he is 'alone'.

• We see how the writer regards him or herself as a failure - 'I stole a guitar once and thought I might learn to play' - who cannot succeed in an 'ordinary' way.

• We see the speaker's pessimistic attitude: although they'd like their life to be glamorous, they are reduced to getting kicks from stealing a snowman and 'things I don't need'.