Before You Were Mine

• Who wrote Before You Were Mine?

  Carol Ann Duffy
• What era is Before You Were Mine from?

  Modern
• What is Before You Were Mine about?

  The daughter reflecting on her mother before she had children
• What kind of relationship is presented in Before You Were Mine?

  Mother and daughter relationship
• Who is Carol Ann Duffy?

  The first woman poet laureate
• I'm ten years away from the corner you laugh on /

  with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff. /

  The three of you bend from the waist, holding /

  each other, or your knees, and shriek at the pavement. /

  Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn.
• I'm not here yet. The thought of me doesn't occur /

  in the ballroom with the thousand eyes, the fizzy, movie tomorrows /

  the right walk home could bring. I knew you would dance /

  like that. Before you were mine, your Ma stands at the close /

  with a hiding for the late one. You reckon it's worth it.
• The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh? /

  I remember my hand in those high-heeled red shoes, relics, /

  and now your ghost clatters toward me over George Square /

  till I see you, clear as scent, under the tree, /

  with its lights, and whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart?
• Cha cha cha! You'd teach me the steps on the way home from Mass, /

  stamping stars from the wrong pavement. Even then /

  I wanted the bold girl winking in Portobello, somewhere /

  in Scotland, before I was born. That glamorous love lasts /

  where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine.
• What is the structure of Before You Were Mine?

  Cyclical
• What is the rhyme scheme of Before You Were Mine?


  There is no rhyme
• How do the first and last stanzas link?

  With the repetition of the verb 'laugh' and the 'pavement'/'wrong pavement'
• What is significant about the mother's friends being named?

  It makes the poem more personal
• What technique is used in the following word and what is the effect: 'shriek'?

  Onomatopoeia - emphasises the girls' excitement
• What is significant about the single-word sentence: 'Marilyn.'?

  It refers to Marilyn Monroe and suggests that the voice sees her mother as a young, glamourous, exciting person
• What is suggested by the phrase: 'movie tomorrows'?

  The mother and her daughter are romantics
• What is significant about the title?

  The word 'mine' has a possessive quality
• What is significant about the words 'hiding' and 'reckon'?

  They are colloquial terms
• What is implied in the lines: 'I knew you would dance like that.' and 'You reckon it's worth it.'?

  That the voice admires her mother
• What is significant about the word 'possessive'?

  It shows that the voice sees the mother as hers
• What is implied by the word 'eh?'?

  The voice is annoyed that her mother enjoyed her life before her daughter was born
• What is significant about the phrase 'high-heeled red shoes'?

  'high-heeled' is before 'red' which is grammatically incorrect but it highlights that to a young girl it didn't matter what colour they were as long as they had high heels
• What is significant about the word 'relics'?

  It suggests the shoes are precious and old
• Why does the voice refer to her mother as a 'ghost' in the third stanza?

  It suggests she is imagining her mother in that scenario although she isn't actually there
• What technique is used in the following line and what is the effect: 'with its lights, and whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart?'?

  Indirect speech - emphasise this is a memory that happened in the past
• What technique is used in the following line and what is the effect: 'till I see you, clear as scent,'?

  Sibilance - emphasises the two words to highlight the confusion of senses (you can't see scents)
• What is the 'wrong pavement' suggesting?

  It is suggesting the right pavement would be the one without her daughter
• What is suggested by the word 'wanted'?

  The voice is disappointed that her mother isn't as fun as she was before children
• What technique is used in the following line and what is the effect: 'where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine'?

  Polysyndeton - emphasises the things the mother used to do before her daughter was born
• What is the tone of Before You Were Mine?

  Frustrated but admiring
• Who is Before You Were Mine about?

  The poet and her mother, it is autobiographical
• What is the effect of the cyclical structure of the poem?

  It emphasises the difference that time can make
• What are the key themes of Before You Were Mine?

  Family relationships and memory