New Year: Structure & Language Techniques

“New Year: Structure” Overview

Free Verse Structure

The poem is written in free verse without a consistent rhyme scheme, symbolizing freedom and restlessness.
Exhibits a lack of regular enjambment, reflecting an irregular and ever-changing reality.

Use of Stanzas

Comprised of nine couplets and a single sarcastic quatrain at the end, representing the ten months of the year, excluding the two of the poet’s own grief.

Repetition and Refrain

The poem starts and ends with the phrase, “The Year King is dead”, adding circularity to the structure and underlining the cyclical nature of time.

“New Year: Language Techniques” Overview

Use of Metaphor

The Year King symbolizes the old year, and his death metaphorically refers to the end of the year.
The sky being referred to as a “womb”, implies that the new year would be birthed from it.

Use of Simile

The comparison of the idea of returning to normal life with a “wound” suggests the pain associated with the past year’s events.

Use of Personification

The new year is personified as the ‘infant year’, highlighting the freshness and novelty that a new year brings.

Use of Imagery

Visual imagery is employed effectively with “a melted sixpence under the dining-room carpet”, providing a sense of realism to traditional practices.

Use of Diction

Uses Old English words such as ‘ale’ and ‘wassail’, as well as the references to ‘the Year King’, all tie into the historical context and depict a traditional English New Year celebration.

In summary, New Year by Carol Ann Duffy makes excellent use of a free verse structure and a variety of language techniques to represent the ending of one year and the arrival of the next. The poem beautifully portrays the themes of time, change, and renewal in the backdrop of traditional celebrations.