Stealing- carol anne duffy

The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.

Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute

beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate

with a mind as cold as the slice of ice

within my own brain. I started with the head

• The first line has a question like an interview- could be a therapist or police
• Midnight has a link to darkness and thieves
• The snowman is personified "he" but he's still mute- perhaps the speakers social difficulty in talking
• "mate"- the only thing the speaker can assosiate with is a snowman.
• "slice of ice"- internal rhyming- make of that what you will
• who's mind is the speaker refering to when he calls the mind cold
  • if it was themself it shows his nonchalance towards stealing
• " started with the head" rhymes with the beginning with the next line.
  • showing the unbalanced nature of the speaker
  • 

Better off dead than giving in, not taking

what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso,

frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill

piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing

that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough.

• They feel that death is better than not stealing
• "He weighed a ton; his torso," - the speaker put so much effort into stealing this snowman even though it has no market value.
• "fierce chill"- stealing gives the speaker feelings, not neccissarily good but there non the less.
• they know that this stealing will make people upset but instead of being put of it makes it even better.
• thier excuse is that "life's tought"- as though he is helping by teaching people a life lesson.