Delilah Summary

Delilah Summary
Samson was granted supernatural strength by the God. Samson fell for Delilah, a
woman that was from the Philistines; which is the enemy of the kingdom of Israel that
Samson was from. Delilah asked Samson the secret of his strength, Samson lied to her
for three times, however he told her the truth on the fourth time. The secret to his
strength was that once his hair is cut off, he’d be powerless. Delilah found out the
secret of his great strength, and to capture him, she calls her man to cut his hair when
Samson slept on her lap.
Poem Analysis
The poem “Delilah” was based on the Bible story of “Samson and Delilah”, where
Delilah betrayed her lover Samson by calling her man to cut Samson’s hair off, so he’d
be powerless and harmful towards the Philistines. While both the poem and the original
bible story consists the theme of betrayal, rather than Delilah asks Samson about his
secrets of his strength, instead Carol Ann Duffy made it sound like Samson was asking
Delilah for advice, asking her how to be gentle, how to be more tender and caring.
The poem starts off with a “Teach me, he said - we were lying in bed - how to care.”
Samson was interpreted to be someone who is tired of being strong all the time, and is
asking Delilah to teach him to be more tender and caring. Delilah then replies through
action, she “nibbled the purse of his ear” while all Samson totally ignored it and “he sat
up and reached for his beer.” Samson then continues to talk about how fearless he is,
and how strong he can be. He shows off by listing the things that he can do. He then
guides Delilah’s hands to his heart, showing his side of weakness. However, he claims
that he can’t be tender and caring since “I have to be strong.”, as a man he knows that
he has to be strong.
However, in the next stanza, we are able to see the change of strength from strong to
weak in Samson. His voice starts to soften. He then falls asleep, and the words that are
used such as soften, is the start of the process to see him lose his strength. The fact that
he is actually falling asleep is a symbol that his strength is weakening. Delilah let’s
Samson slip on the floor, making herself mobile to be able to get her scissors. The way
that Carol Ann Duffy described how Delilah was getting ready by sharpening the
scissors, and snipping it in air to test it allows the atmosphere to tense up, even though
the readers know what will happen.
To make this poem stronger, Carol Ann Duffy has used a lot of literary techniques to
bring out the change of strength and power. Rhyme and half rhyme have been used
throughout the poem. She uses it to emphasize the central idea of the story, of Delilah
cutting Samson’s hair off, as the words always rhymes with the word “hair”. Words that
rhymes with the word “hair” are put at the end of each line, such as; care, burr, bear,
scar, war, cure ...etc. This indirectly reminds the readers of the central idea of the story,
because the content of the poem is portrayed differently than the original bible story,
however at the same time they want the readers to focus on the key element of the
story which is strength, and the breakdown of the strength would be cutting his hair
off. Listing was used to portray all the possible factors that may emphasize the central
point of what he was trying to show. In this case, she listed different things that
Samson would do that is known to be conflictive and dangerous to show that Samson is
fearless and brave. This affects the reader by letting them know what the poet is trying
to show, which is the power and courage in Samson. In the list of things that Samson
would do, allusion was added to strengthen the point that Samson has nothing to fear
as he mentions that he can sleep one whole night at “Montour’s lair”, which was where
a half man half bull monster lived, emphasizing how brave or fearless he can be when
he can sleep at such a horrible and dangerous place.
Alliteration is used to emphasize a phrase and catch the readers’ attention. In this
poem, Carol Ann Duffy uses alliteration to emphasize how Samson is getting weaker,
before his hair is being cut off by Delilah. He struggles to stand up, but to sit, slide and
sprawl onto the floor. This lets the reader know what is happening to the character,
also the reader is able to predict what would happen soon as according to the bible,
that Delilah is going to cut Samson’s hair off.
This poem is really different comparing to the original Bible. Though at the end Delilah
had to cut off Samson’s hair, the intention to was different. Instead of cutting it off so
he can be captured by her countrymen but she did it because she wanted to help
Samson to become a tender and loving person. In the poem, Delilah is written as a
dominant female character, because Samson is the one who keeps asking her to help,
even though he is the strong one. And the fact that someone who is stronger asks for
someone weaker to help already strengthens the dominance between strong and
weak.

Delilah Summary

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