"Quickdraw," by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, describes a passionate exchange between lovers as though it were a showdown between gunslingers in the Wild West. The lovers' back-and-forth via phone and text excites the speaker and fills them with pleasure, but the poem suggests that such intense feelings border on dangerous; the lovers run the risk of getting seriously hurt. "Quickdraw" was published in Duffy's seventh poetry collection, Rapture, in 2005.

• Read the full text of “Quickdraw”

• “Quickdraw” Summary

• “Quickdraw” Themes

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    The Pleasures and Dangers of Passion

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Quickdraw”

  • Lines 1-4

    I wear the ...
    ... hear me groan.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-9

    You've wounded me. ...
    ... through the heart.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-13

    And this is ...
    ... concealed.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    You text them ...
    ... this… and this…

    

    

    

    

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• “Quickdraw” Symbols

  • 

    Guns and Bullets

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “I wear the two, the mobile and the landline phones, / like guns, slung from the pockets on my hips.”
    • Lines 3-4: “quickdraw, your voice a pellet / in my ear”
    • Line 7: “then squeeze the trigger of my tongue, wide of the mark.”
    • Line 15: “read the silver bullets of your kiss.”

• “Quickdraw” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “I wear the two, the mobile and the landline phones, / like guns, slung from the pockets on my hips.”

  • Epizeuxis

    

    

    

    

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    Where epizeuxis appears in the poem:

    • Line 16: “and this… and this… and this… and this…”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “phones”
    • Line 2: “guns,” “slung”
    • Line 3: “alone”
    • Line 4: “ear,” “hear,” “groan”
    • Line 6: “tone,” “phone”
    • Line 7: “mark”
    • Line 9: “heart”
    • Line 10: “noon”
    • Line 11: “saloon,” “show,” “mobile”
    • Line 13: “concealed,” “reel”
    • Line 15: “silver,” “kiss,” “this”

• “Quickdraw” 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.

  • The mobile and the landline phones
  • Slung
  • Quickdraw
  • Pellet
  • Wide of the mark
  • High noon
  • Calamity
  • Saloon
  • Reel
  • Fumble
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “the mobile and the landline phones”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Quickdraw”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Quickdraw” Speaker

• “Quickdraw” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Quickdraw”

• More “Quickdraw” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Not Your Typical Poet Laureate — A Daily Mail article regarding Duffy's appointment as first woman/LGBTQ+/Scottish Poet Laureate of the UK.

    • The Poet's Life and Career — A Poetry Foundation biography of Duffy. 

    • The 50 Greatest Western Movies Ever Made — A New York Magazine rundown of the genre that inspired "Quickdraw."

    • Duffy Reads the Poem Aloud — Listen to "Quickdraw" read by the poet herself.

    • The End of the Affair — A Guardian review of Rapture, the collection in which "Quickdraw" was published. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

    • A Child's Sleep

    • Anne Hathaway

    • Before You Were Mine

    • Circe

    • Death of a Teacher

    • Demeter

    • Education For Leisure

    • Elvis's Twin Sister

    • Eurydice

    • Foreign

    • Havisham

    • Head of English

    • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

    • In Your Mind

    • Little Red Cap

    • Mean Time

    • Medusa

    • Mrs Aesop

    • Mrs Darwin

    • Mrs Faust

    • Mrs Icarus

    • Mrs Lazarus

    • Mrs Midas

    • Mrs Sisyphus

    • Originally

    • Penelope

    • Pilate's Wife

    • Pope Joan

    • Prayer

    • Pygmalion's Bride

    • Queen Herod

    • Recognition

    • Salome

    • Standing Female Nude

    • Stealing

    • The Darling Letters

    • The Dolphins

    • The Good Teachers

    • Thetis

    • Valentine

    • Warming Her Pearls

    • War Photographer

    • We Remember Your Childhood Well

    • Work

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