An Analysis of Stealing by Carol Ann Duffy free essay sample

The thief is so lonely that he wants a snowman as a mate which builds a compassion between the reader until the use of negative connotations in the next line. With a mind as cold as the slice of ice within my own brain. suggests that this thief is psychologically disturbed and lacks compassion from the comparison of him and an inanimate object. This is due to lifes difficulties and the adversities of unemployment. Throughout the first stanza, the sentences are short and full of caesuras. This depicts the thiefs state of mind where the pauses show the confusion and chaos in her mind which doesnt let her be able to think properly. The second stanza contains a lot of violence with the words, dead, frozen stiff, fierce chill, piercing my gut, which can mirror the tough times in the 1980s when violence was very common and habitual. The thief seems sadistic when he dismantles the snowman as it makes him happy in imagining the children cry over it but also the way he compares the snowman with himself also shows the masochist in himself. We will write a custom essay sample on An Analysis of Stealing by Carol Ann Duffy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This ensures that the thief if definitely psychologically disturbed. The third stanza clearly depicts the boredom of the thief but also the colloquial language and his relaxed attitude shows the carelessness and thoughtlessness in him and makes it seem like what hes doing is completely normal. This attitude suggests that the thief could just be a teenager that takes the opportunity to go around stealing things while riots already destroy the country. The way he describes himself as a mucky ghost shows the lack of confidence in him and as much as he shows off his carelessness, he is aware of what hes doing. The sigh he does while he looks at mirrors seems like a tired sigh where he spends his time doing pointless things which shows the state of the whole country at the time; people are unemployed, they are bored and they have absolutely nothing to do. It seems daft now In the fourth stanza contradicts with the previous stanzas because in the previous stanzas the author had written in the present tense, I steal things. However on the fourth stanza he tells himself that its a stupid thought now, this indicates that this thief had been stealing for quite a while, wasting his time on worthless things but giving value to it. This reflects on reality in those times where unemployment meant no money and so people couldnt even buy the things they easily couldve before and therefore everything became more valuable. The last stanza is again about the things he had stolen but this time for his own good, to maybe learn and educate himself to play the guitar and read Shakespeare and develop his creativity. But nevertheless he got bored of these too because it never interested him as much as the snowman; the only mate he wanted to have in his alienated strange bubble. The poem ends with an imperfect question, just like how it started with a question. It is directed to the reader which leaves a wonder on the readers mind and also shows his inabilty to understand himself and express himself which again leads to lack of confidence. This poem is in the first person, the voice comes across as that of a thief. Nevertheless the reader cannot discern the gender or age of the speaker. There are five stanzas each having five lines which shows an organised structure however it doesnt have any sort of rhyming scheme, it has meany caesuras and it is irregular. This reflects the thiefs mind; looks fine and structured but full of chaos and convulsion. There is lyricism describing the snowman which shows the thief giving it a speciality from every other things he had stolen. Overall this poem gives out a social commentary on the inevitable reality of society and its difficulties leading to boredom and even insanity.