Before You Were Mine, Carol Ann Duffy

Cards (19)

  • Context
    ● Written in 2005 after mother’s death - eulogy
    ● Raised in 1950s as a Roman Catholic - hence the religious references in the poem
  • 'Marylin’
    comparison to Marliyn Monroe - holophrastic nature emphasises the difference between her pre and post motherhood. Iconic, glamorous actress who then committed suicide - could reference potentially unhappiness after childbirth
  • ‘In the ballroom with the thousand eyes’

    either disco, or hyperbole for the attention she gets
  • ‘Before you were mine’

    ’ repeats twice - ominous tone, emphasises the title referencing the change in mother’s life
  • ‘Loud possessive yell’
    reversal of roles
  • ‘Eh?’ ‘pals’
    conversational tone, colloquial language, sense of intimacy, close bond
  • ‘Clear as scent’

    synaesthesia by blending smell and sight - vague hazy memories
  • Right walk’ ‘wrong pavement’
    contrast suggests having a child was not a good choice
  • ‘Stamping stars (on the wrong pavement)’ 

    Hall of Fame, destined for greatness but cut off, anger?(stamping) regret?
  • ‘Bold girl winking’ ‘hiding for the late one’
    immature flirty rebellious
  • ‘I wanted the bold..’

    admiration but feels left out, childish request, not fair that she didn't get to meet rebellious mum- guilt?
  • 'Sparkle and laugh and waltz’
    verbs with polysyndeton highlights the fun her mother’s old lifestyle was
  • ‘Ghost’
    afterlife - mother dead, mother’s old lifestyle dead
  • ‘Mass’
    contrasts previous carefree descriptions - may emphasise the freedom mother is trying to get and break free from societal norms, but having a child took that away
  • Last stanza enjambment
    flow of emotions, feeling of guilt
  • Caesura ‘,before I was born’
    • disrupts flow of the poem - stop to register feelings of guilt
    • disrupts flow of the poem - stop to register feelings of guilt
  • ‘before I was born'
    Caesura, disrupts flow of the poem - stop to register feelings of guilt
  • Themes and comparisons
    ● Family relationships: FOLLOWER - admiration skill vs rebellious nature, negative shift in last part of poem (insufficiency vs guilt), role reversal
    Memories: EDEN ROCK - fond memories recalled by child (love transcends death), semi-autobiographical poems, afterlife connotations (ghost), colloquialisms to recall memories (you vs they), present tense vs different memory frames, glamorous vs down to earth depiction of parents, tones different - ‘leisurely’, caesura vs bitter regret