Write: Themes & Linking Poems

Love and Connection - This is a central theme, with the poem examining a deep connection between two people. The act of writing becomes a powerful display of love and intimacy.
Self-reflection and Identity - Duffy explores the writer as a mirror and the process of writing as a form of self-exploration. It also reflects on the role of the writer and the power they wield.
Imagination and Reality - This motif is brought out through the use of vivid visual imagery. The writer can create a new reality on paper and allow the beloved to exist in that realm.
Writing and Power - The poem explores the power held within the act of writing. Words provide a sense of control, allowing one to shape and mould the world as they see fit.
Transformation and Creation - The writer can re-imagine and recreate the beloved in any form, highlighting the transformative power of writing.

The theme of love and connection links “Write” with poems like “Hour”, where love is celebrated for its transformative power, and “Valentine”, where love is explored in an unconventional manner, much like writing in “Write”.
The exploration of imagination and reality resonates with “Originally”, where Duffy constructs an imagined, past world.
The process of self-reflection and writing has parallels with “Rapture”, where Duffy engages in self-reflection through her distinctive poetic voice.
The ideas of transformation and creation through writing connect “Write” with “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class”, where the transformative power of education, a form of writing, is emphasised.
The poem also links with “The World’s Wife”, where Duffy re-imagines characters from history and myth, similar to the re-imagining of the beloved in “Write”.