"The Darling Letters," by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, is about the way that relationships may change over time and how people often hang on to emblems of past love long after things have ended. The poem's speaker takes old love letters out every now and then, despite finding their use of cutesy nicknames and fierce declarations of undying love a bit mortifying in hindsight. While the letters read differently now than they once did, the speaker is still drawn to them because they're a reminder of the intensity, hopefulness, and joy of being deeply in love. The poem was published in Duffy's 1990 collection, The Other Country.
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The Full Text of “The Darling Letters”
The Full Text of “The Darling Letters”
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“The Darling Letters” Summary
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“The Darling Letters” Themes
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Nostalgia for Past Love
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-18
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Darling Letters”
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Lines 1-3
Some keep them ...
... My own... -
Lines 4-7
Private jokes, no ...
... Don't ever change. -
Lines 8-11
They start with ...
... Always... -
Lines 11-12
Nobody burns them, ...
... their cardboard coffins. -
Lines 13-15
Babykins... ...
... alias, long ago. -
Lines 15-18
I'll die ...
... on buried bones.
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“The Darling Letters” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 2: “lid,” “lifts”
- Line 3: “recklessness,” “written”
- Line 4: “pull,” “punchlines”
- Line 5: “fall,” “flat,” “What”
- Line 6: “wearing”
- Line 9: “fist's,” “flowers”
- Line 10: “trembling,” “fingers,” “trace”
- Line 11: “future”
- Line 12: “cardboard,” “coffins”
- Line 18: “buried,” “bones”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 2: “lid lifts”
- Line 3: “recklessness written”
- Line 4: “Private,” “jokes,” “comprehended,” “pull,” “punchlines”
- Line 5: “fall flat,” “gaps,” “What”
- Line 6: “wearing”
- Line 8: “start,” “Darling,” “end in”
- Lines 8-9: “recriminations, / absence, sense”
- Line 9: “loss,” “fist's,” “bud,” “flowers”
- Line 10: “trembling,” “fingers,” “trace”
- Line 11: “future”
- Line 12: “stiff,” “cardboard coffins”
- Line 13: “Babykins”
- Line 17: “thudding”
- Line 18: “spade,” “buried bones”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 2: “lid,” “lifts”
- Line 5: “flat,” “gaps”
- Line 8: “start,” “Darling”
- Line 9: “absence,” “sense,” “now,” “flowers”
- Line 12: “stiff in,” “coffins”
- Line 13: “Babykins,” “strange,” “names”
- Line 14: “make”
- Line 16: “alone”
- Line 18: “bones”
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Asyndeton
Where asyndeton appears in the poem:- Lines 4-5: “Private jokes, no longer comprehended, pull their punchlines, / fall flat in the gaps between the endearments.”
- Lines 8-9: “They start with Darling; end in recriminations, / absence, sense of loss.”
- Lines 9-11: “the fist's bud flowers / into trembling, the fingers trace each line and see / the future then”
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Line 2: “sore memories blinking out as the lid lifts,”
- Lines 9-10: “Even now, the fist's bud flowers / into trembling,”
- Line 12: “stiff in their cardboard coffins.”
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Simile
Where simile appears in the poem:- Lines 13-15: “We all had strange names / which make us blush, as though we'd murdered / someone under an alias, long ago.”
- Lines 17-18: “the heart thudding / like a spade on buried bones.”
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Enjambment
Where enjambment appears in the poem:- Lines 5-6: “What / are”
- Lines 9-10: “flowers / into”
- Lines 10-11: “see / the”
- Lines 13-14: “names / which”
- Lines 14-15: “murdered / someone”
- Lines 15-16: “die / without”
- Lines 17-18: “thudding / like”
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Caesura
Where caesura appears in the poem:- Lines 3-3: “them. / My”
- Line 4: “jokes, no,” “comprehended, pull”
- Lines 5-5: “endearments. / What”
- Line 8: “Darling; end”
- Line 9: “absence, sense,” “loss. Even,” “now, the”
- Line 10: “trembling, the”
- Lines 11-11: “then. / Always...”
- Line 12: “letters, stiff”
- Lines 13-13: “Babykins... / We”
- Line 14: “blush,”
- Line 15: “alias, long”
- Lines 15-15: “ago. / I'll”
- Lines 16-16: “you. Die. / Once”
- Line 16: “while, alone,”
- Line 17: “again, the”
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Hyperbole
Where hyperbole appears in the poem:- Line 11: “Always...”
- Lines 15-16: “I'll die / without you. Die.”
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“The Darling Letters” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Recklessness
- Punchlines
- Comprehended
- Endearments
- Recriminations
- Babykins
- Alias
- Spade
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(Location in poem: Line 3: “their own recklessness written all over them”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Darling Letters”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Darling Letters” Speaker
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“The Darling Letters” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Darling Letters”
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More “The Darling Letters” Resources
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External Resources
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The Path to Becoming a Literary Icon — This Guardian article provides a more in-depth look at Duffy's life, including her lifelong ambition to become a poet and the ways in which motherhood has affected her work.
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Duffy's Inspirations and Poetic Process — Watch a livestream of 2020 Q&A with the poet for University of Lincoln.
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An Overview of the Poet's Life and Work — Learn more about Duffy's life via Poets.org.
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A Reading of the Poem — Listen to the poem read out loud by English actress Rosamund Pike.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy
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