Analysing Rapture: You, Text and Name

For the next few days (or weeks, more likely) I will be briefly outlining and analysing the poems from Carol Ann Duffy's Rapture, as it is the main text I am focusing on in my English Literature exam and I want to make sure I can say something about every poem. They won't be very in-depth and I am not focusing particularly on written style, I'm just trying to get as many basic ideas down as I can on each poem.

I will issue a warning now, to those of you who are unfamiliar with this text: in her poetry there are a lot of sexual themes, sometimes bordering on erotic, and I won't be holding back on my interpretations. If this kind of material offends you, you should probably wait until my blog posts no longer begin with 'Analysing Rapture'.

Another note: for the purposes of these analyses, as the poems are not supposed to depict characters of specific genders, but rather love and relationship as a whole, I will be referring to the two characters as 'the speaker' and 'the lover'.


You
You pinpoints the very first stage of a relationship: the longing, the fantasising, the mystery and excitement of a new possible love. The poem signifies the speaker's obsession over this currently unknown character, that the lover is always in the speaker's mind, be it on a conscious level or a subconscious level. The poem also introduces lust and desire towards the lover. The isolation of the word 'you' and its separation from the word 'I', as well as the absence of the word 'we' shows that these two characters are not together, and the speaker is merely imagining being with the lover, who remains unattainable, out of reach.


Text
The poem Text gives the impression of a young relationship, as it shows the speaker and the lover communicating early in the relationship through text messaging, touching the modern, young audience on a personal level, as many can relate to the pain of waiting for the next message and "look[ing] for your small xx". The poem continues the idea of obsession over the lover, re-reading each text sent, but it also touches upon the ambiguity of written language: without the aid of inflection, the meaning of a message can be lost or misinterpreted, and the speaker shows a desire for 'real' communication, face to face, as it is heavily implied that the two characters haven't even met at this point. The alternate mono rhyme throughout this poem signifies the desire for a conventional relationship, as the poem is written in a more conventional style, if slightly broken.


Name
Name takes the theme of obsession to a new level, where the speaker focuses on every detail of the lover, down to the vowels and consonants of their name. The fantastic elements of the relationship are still present, indicating that they still have not met in person. As the reader never finds out the name of the lover, it appears as much more personal and private to the speaker, that they know and love this person's name, but it is too precious to announce it. It could also be said that to give something a definitive name would take away the beauty and wonder from it, therefore it is kept a secret from the reader. The constant change between personal, emotional words such as 'kiss', 'love' and 'wish' and technical terms like 'proper noun', 'vowels' and 'alphabet' imply uncertainty on the speaker's part and a sense of formality between the characters, that their relationship has not quite reached an emotional level yet.