Before You Were Mine

• Before You Were Mine

  Poem written by Carol Ann Duffy
• Before You Were Mine

  • Direct address to a mother reflecting on their life before and after they were a parent
  • Explores the adult child's imagined view of her mother as a younger woman as vibrant and free from responsibility
  • Highlights the restrictive element of parenthood
• Before You Were Mine

  A poem by Carol Ann Duffy reflecting on her mother's life before the poet was born
• Poem


  • Direct address to the poet's mother
  • Explores the responsibilities of parenthood
  • Reflects on the mother's life before the poet was born
• Narrator


  The poet, reflecting on her mother
• The narrator reflects on her mother's life


  Before the narrator was born
• Tone


  Conversational, sentimental, nostalgic
• Structure


  • 4 regular stanzas with similar line lengths
  • No rhyme scheme
  • Use of caesurae for dramatic effect
• Tense


  Mostly present tense, suggesting the memories live on
• Language


  • Vivid imagery to describe the mother's youth
  • Colloquial phrases and references to speak directly to the mother
  • Possessive language to convey the responsibilities of motherhood
• The poem presents


  • A positive perspective of the mother as a bright and exciting woman
  • The restrictive aspects of motherhood and an alternative perspective on family relationships
• The poem was written by Carol Ann Duffy while looking at a photograph of her mother
• The exam question will ask students to compare the ideas presented in 'Before You Were Mine' with another poem from the anthology
• me from Mass, stamping stars from the wrong pavement.": 'The speaker shows her mother as still spirited despite her responsibilities, which presents a positive depiction of her mother and shows the love between them'
• Duffy presents a positive perspective of her mother as a bright and exciting woman
• Duffy's poem uses language which connotes to the possessive nature and responsibilities of motherhood
• She repeats the line "Before you were mine" to imply the continuous nature of ownership
• The speaker uses sarcasm to refer to the role of motherhood: "my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh?"
• Nevertheless, Duffy's speaker acknowledges the changes motherhood brings: she uses possessive pronouns to indicate the unrelenting nature of dependent children
• Duffy's presentation of motherhood presents the restrictive aspects of motherhood and presents an alternative perspective about family relationships
• Context Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information: in this case, it is not random biographical information about Carol Ann Duffy or facts unrelated to the ideas in Before You Were Mine. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Carol Ann Duffy in Before You Were Mine which relate to family love and relationships.
• This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Duffy explores:

  • Family relationships
  • Distance and acceptance
• Family relationships


  Carol Ann Duffy's poem, Before You Were Mine, is from a collection of poems called 'Mean Time', which explores themes of childhood, memory, love, and time
• This poem explores ideas regarding youth and memory as Duffy delves into an imagined moment from her mother's past life as a young woman
• The poem references polka-dot dresses, ballroom dance halls, and Marilyn Monroe which suggests the mother is a teenager during the 1950s
• Duffy was born in 1955, so "ten years away" could imply the speaker is a teenager when she writes the poem to her mother
• Duffy's poem explores the nature of youth at a time when the idea of being a 'teenager' was a new concept
• Society was beginning to recognise adolescence as separate from childhood
• Her depiction of her mother as a rebellious young woman shrieking and laughing on the corner with her pals celebrates the new freedom young people were beginning to enjoy at the time
• Before You Were Mine considers the changing role of women and therefore comments on feminist perspectives
• The speaker's mother stays out late, flirts and draws attention to herself
• In 1950s England, this behaviour would oppose the stereotypical female Women's roles were still restricted and it was expected that females adopted the role of mother and wife above all else
• Duffy's poem offers a critical view of the way motherhood restricts women
• Distance and acceptance


  Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate in the UK between 2009 and 2019, wrote 'Before You Were Mine' to reflect on the distances between parent and child
• Her dramatised scene of a moment from her mother's past explores a daughter's perspective on a distant version of her mother
• The poem explores a daughter's pragmatic acceptance of a mother's absence, in this case, because of death
• Duffy refers to her mother as a "ghost [which] clatters toward me over George Street"
• The modern poem, however, presents a personal conversation between mother and daughter which implies the mother's continued presence in her daughter's life, alluding to the power of the family bond
• The speaker tells her mother, "I see you, clear as scent,"
• The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about love or relationships, in comparison to other poets in the anthology.