Loneliness
This poem begins and ends with references to the state of loneliness, each one culled from Elvis Presley's own music. Between these lines, the poem mines the varieties of loneliness, and the differences between the state of being alone versus that of being lonely. The speaker claims that she has not experienced loneliness in a long time, despite the fact that she lives a relatively isolated life. In contrast, her brother is implied to have suffered from a degree of loneliness, as expressed in his quoted lyrics—in this case a loneliness induced, not by the state of being alone, but by quite the opposite: the constant scrutiny and temptation of fame. However, the speaker prays for and remembers her brother, ensuring that he is not entirely lonely or alone.
Gender
This work asks readers how an individual with all of Elvis Presley's characteristics, from musical talent to looks to life circumstances and a birthday, might have fared with a different gender. In a humorous turn, the poem's speaker, purely as a result of her femaleness, lives in perhaps the opposite of rock n' roll stardom: she is a nun. Her brother embodies fame, wealth, promiscuity, scandal, and ultimately premature death. Meanwhile, the speaker's life is devoted to humility, asceticism, anonymity, and long-lasting health. Duffy suggests that sexism, with the restrictions it places on women's freedom and independence, allowed the speaker's brother to flourish as an artist while preventing the speaker from doing so. However, ironically, the speaker feels happy and safe whereas her brother ultimately may have been unhappy, unsafe, and alone.
Religion and Monasticism
Despite the humorous contrast between the speaker's convent and her brother's celebrity, Duffy ultimately suggests that the two are ironically similar in some ways. Within the convent, the speaker devotes her time to gardening, saying that she "watch(es)" things grow. In its domesticity, this task may sound little like that of performing onstage—but Duffy suggests that Elvis, too, was a healing or nurturing force, tending to his art and his listeners just as his fictional sister tends to a garden. Later, the speaker will listen to Gregorian chanting, in a moment that parallels religious music with rock music. Monasticism is described here as a type of artistic practice, and the arts are, in turn, described as a form of religious devotion, even to the point of self-sacrifice.
