The Possessive Poem Analysis

Introduction

Carol Ann Duffy, a famous Scottish poet and playwright, has this knack for diving deep into themes of love, gender, and identity. Her poem "The Possessive" is like a rollercoaster ride through the messy world of love and possession. It plays around with how desire, control, and vulnerability mix up in romantic relationships. This essay will take apart how possession is portrayed in the poem. We’ll look at it from different angles using literary theories and expert opinions to really get what’s going on.

'The Possessive' Poem Analysis

Body Paragraphs

"The Possessive" is full of contradictions. Duffy uses them to show how confusing possession in love can be. The speaker swings back and forth between wanting someone so bad and being scared of losing them. It’s all right there in the first lines: "Not mine, although I held it / like a moon in water between my hands" (Duffy, 1993, p. 10). The speaker wants to hold onto their loved one but knows they can’t really own them. That pretty much sums up possessive love—lots of contradictions.

Experts have been talking about possession in relationships forever. Some say it’s just part of love because we naturally want to connect with others (Sternberg, 1986). But then others think possessiveness can ruin things by creating control issues (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1992). In "The Possessive," Duffy looks at both sides. She shows possession as something complicated that mixes love with obsession and vulnerability with control.

If you look at some books, you can see how possession plays out in romantic stories. In "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë, Jane struggles with feeling possessive over Mr. Rochester but learns that respect and freedom are important too (Brontë, 1847). And then there’s Gudrun Brangwen from "Women in Love" by D.H. Lawrence who gets so possessive with Gerald Crich that they drift apart (Lawrence, 1920). These stories show that while possessive love can be tempting, it often doesn’t end well unless you balance desire with independence.

Counterarguments

You might think that "The Possessive" glorifies being possessive in relationships. Some folks could say it feeds into bad stereotypes or expectations. But if you dig deeper into the poem, it’s more about questioning those desires than endorsing them. Duffy shines a light on the contradictions within possessive love and makes us ask ourselves if those feelings are really worth pursuing.

Conclusion

To wrap things up, Carol Ann Duffy's "The Possessive" gives us lots to think about when it comes to love and possession in relationships. The way she uses words and images makes us reconsider what being possessive really means and whether it's healthy or not. Maybe future studies can look at modern relationships through this lens—using her poem to understand how love mixes with control and vulnerability today.

References

• Brontë, C. (1847). Jane Eyre. Smith, Elder & Co.
• Duffy, C.A. (1993). The Other Country. Anvil Press Poetry.
• Sternberg, R.J. (1986). A triangular theory of love. Psychological Review.
• Hendrick, S.S., & Hendrick, C. (1992). Romantic Love: Measuring Cupid's Arrow.
• Lawrence, D.H. (1920). Women in Love.