Before You Were Mine, Carol Ann Duffy

• 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