Commentary on Stealing by Carol Ann Duffy

Commentary on Stealing by Carol Ann Duffy

Why would anyone steal a snowman in the middle of the night? While the vast majority of people would think it would be cruel to do that to the children who built it, the narrator in ‘Stealing’ by Carol Ann Duffy doesn’t seem to care. This poem, a dramatic monologue, reveals a narrator who seems isolated and disturbed. A picture of the narrator is built up through visual imagery, an informal style and tone of voice.

The narrator is a delinquent who has stolen cars and broken into homes. In this monologue, the narrator focuses upon the time he/she stole a snowman because of the way it looked. The narrator was attracted by it because he describes the snowman vividly as ‘magnificent…a tall white mute’ (line 2) in the darkness of the night. However, when the narrator tried to reassemble the snowman in his own yard ‘he didn't look the same’ (line 17) so ‘I took a run/ and booted him. Again. Again. (line17/18). The poet makes it very easy to visualize a violent narrator who eventually ends up angry amongst the ‘lumps of snow’ (line 20) from the destroyed snowman. The visual imagery makes it easy to picture the impressive snowman, the thief attempting to reassemble it and the destruction of the snowman in the end .

Diction choices also help to build an impression of a narrator talking in an informal style to someone specific. It starts abruptly with a question “The most unusual thing I ever stole?’ (line 1) which seems like repetition of someone else’s question. It also uses colloquial phrases and ends with ‘You don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you? (line 25) It also seems as if the narrator is speaking because in some stanzas there is a sudden switch to another topic. For example, in the third and fifth stanzas the narrator suddenly shifts away from the snowman story and begins to talk about his or her other crimes as well as how he/she feels. It is as if the narrator has not planned what to say. The reader can recognize that there is an...

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