Hour - Carol Ann Duffy
Love’s time’s beggar, but even a single hour,
bright as a dropped coin, makes love rich.
We find an hour together, spend it not on flowers
or wine, but the whole of the summer sky and a grass ditch.
For thousands of seconds we kiss; your hair
like treasure on the ground; the Midas light
turning your limbs to gold. Time slows, for here
we are millionaires, backhanding the night
so nothing dark will end our shining hour,
no jewel hold a candle to the cuckoo spit
hung from the blade of grass at your ear,
no chandelier or spotlight see you better lit
than here. Now. Time hates love, wants love poor,
but love spins gold, gold, gold from straw.
In this cleverly written poem by Duffy, the idea that love is a force which transcends materialism is explored through metaphors, sturcture, diction choice and subtle external references. The poem was from her collection “Rapture” which explores the different stages of a relationship. This poem is clearly expressing the idea of being deeply in love and the only obstacle to a perfect relationship being a lack of time. She preaches that love is “time’s beggar” - suggesting that their relationship is at the mercy of time and they cannot see enough of each other.
Duffy rejects the traditional symbol of love in the line “spend it not on flowers or wine” - showing her non-materialism and lack of concern for physical representations of love. She would rather spend her time in a “grass ditch”, implying that her love is natural, and grounded. The expanse of the “whole of the summer’s sky” shows how broad and extensive her feelings are towards her lover. The change in pace of the poem reflects how it can feel as though love can momentarily have a hold on time, and make it slow down. The line “we are millionaires, backhanding the night” uses the metaphor of time being money, implying that when she is with her lover, she feels as though they can bribe time to slow down, and it seems to her to be successful.
The glorification of love extends to giving it magical qualities, whereby Duffy states that love “spins gold, gold, gold from straw”. This parallel could be argued to indicate that love is special and precious, like gold is. The use of repetition gives the poem a sense of excitement in regards to the tone. The voice of Duffy seems to penetrate the poem and take over the narrative, making it all the more personal and current, hence furthering the deep sense of strong connection and emotion. Despite the seemingly positive voice in the poem, the reference to ‘Midas light’ as well as the fairytale of Rumple Stiltskin suggests a darker undertone. Both of the aforementioned references are based on lies, perhaps suggesting some sort of weakness and cracks in the foundations of the relationship. This would complement her later poems in the collection ‘Rapture’ which tell the story of a break up.
On first impression the poem seems to be a cliche love poem which expresses hyperbolic feelings for a person, but with deeper insight one could argue that it is exploring the fine line between a flawless relationship and one on the verge of breakdown.
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