Poetry

• Sonnet 29 context

  Written as part of a series of sonnets for her future husband, Robert Browning
• Neutral tones context

  Thomas Hardy was Famous for the pessimistic tone in his writing and faced many disappointments in his personal relationships 
• Before You Were Mine

  Themes: Family relationship- independence, strong bond, admiration, rebellion, desire and longing, getting older, memory

  Compare with: Mother, any distance, Eden Rock

  "shriek at the pavement./ Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn"

  Caesura draws attention to "Marilyn" - glamorous and desirable film star, but also a tragic figure that committed suicide aged 36, hints at unhappiness yet to come.

  "The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh?"

  Rhetorical question. The narrator was a demanding baby, her mum sacrifice her life as a film star for her. Conversational tone, and colloquial language that suggests to familiarity.

  "That glamorous love lasts / where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine."

  Lexical field of glitz and glam. The repetition of the word "and" put emphasis on how many energetic qualities the narrator thinks her mother had.

  "Clear as scent" - simile, use of sensory language, sysnthesia

  Tone: Possessive, admiring tone.

  form
• Before you were mine - Context

  imagery comes from photos of her mother, sense of frustration for not knowing her mother before she was born

  Perhaps she feels distant from her mother, who was unaware how life changing having a child can be

  Carol had 6 siblings and so would've witnessed the sacrifices her mum made
• Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy


  Autobiographical poem and makes references to the streets of Glasgow (George Square), conveying Duffy's nostalgia for her home city

  -1993
• Before you were mine form

  Consistent with 4 equal stanzas of 5 lines reflect steady passage of time and shows how narrator dislikes changes
• Before you were mine structure

  Cyclical - Begins and ends on a "pavement"; one is the "right path" whilst the other is "wrong"

  Clear divide between before and after Duffy birth, emphasising their distance

  Maybe she doesn't want to make the same mistake as her mother
• Colloquial language in bywm

  "Eh" shows a close, personal, and familial bond between them
• "Sweetheart?" And possessive language in bywm


  Role reversal rebels against the passage of time and motherhood

  "Mine" emphasises Duffy desire for control

  "I wanted the bold girl" highlights the irony of her nostalgia and desire for the younger version of her mother
• Admiration in bywm


  Admires her mother's "boldness" and "glamour" and compares her to +Marilyn" (monroe)

  Feels guilty for forcing her mother into motherhood instead of letting her be a woman
• Aging in bywm


  Subtle yet poignant

  Narrator imagines her mothers former self alongside the present reality, highlighting the bittersweet nature of growing older, motherhood, and enduring familial connections
• Neutral tones form


  1st and last line of each stanza rhyme;the past haunts narrator & actions have consequences
• Neutral tones structure


  Cyclical -starts and ends at pond

  Shows he's been repeatedly hurt by love
• Loss & suffering in nt

  Narrator feels strong emotions about his incessant love life

  "Pain", "death", "punishment" - connotes to guilt and so maybe he believes he deserves it
• Death & lifelessness in nt

  Death of relationship and dying love

  "Greyish" tones

  "Cold"

  Starving sod

  Bleak

  Deadest thing

  Trees turned to "ash"

  Connotions of death and decaying - highlighting death of relationships and lack of love
• Ponds


  Ponds are disconnected from rivers and seas, so water is still and isolated. The relationship will not move forward and narrator feels isolated in his relationships
• Sonnet 29 - I think of thee! Form


  Petrararchan sonnet is about distance between 2 lovers and iambic pentameter suggests traditional or true love/emphasises the rebellion

  Volta is usually in the 8th line but is instead in 5th line, breaking tradition and conformist attitudes

  Also shows that their love is so deep that they solve problems faster than usual

  Italian style sonnet rhyme scheme shows unconventionality of the relationship
• Sonnet 29 language


  Pronoun "thee" is repeated, showing speakers longing and desire

  Auditory imagery of "rustle" and "shattered" show that her and her lover are familiar with each other
• Natural imagery in s29

  Extended metaphor/conceit

  Vine = her thoughts

  "Twine" and "bud" show how narrators love is untameable

  Flower imagery was used to explore female sexuality, shunned at time of writing, rebellious
• Follower form


  Abab rhyme scheme, one perfect & one slight

  Perfect = father, slight = son

  Shows that He'll never live up to his fathers aptitudes of farming

  Inconsistent iambic pentameter= tensions
• Follower structure


  Cyclical narrative - "I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake" "it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me" _ demonstrates strong paternal bond between them and support each other

  Roles of parent and child have reversed as time goes on, emphasising the bittersweet nature of aging and parental relationships, even if they annoy each other

  
  

  Neat, stable structure could show admiration for father's perfection or reflect claustrophobic environment growing up. Shows he still loves his dad after arhuments
• Follower language


  Consonance in "pluck", "worked", "clicking" replicate fathers harsh workload - reflects both admiration of father and feeling that his dad is working him hard
• Admiration in follower


  Onomatopoeia (yapping, clicking) and nautical references (simile (see below) and rolled over) show how narrator vividly recalls

  Semantic field of perfection - "expert", "[mapped] the furrow exactly" show admiration

  "Shoulders globed like a full sail strung"
• Neutral Tones - Structure1

  Ellipse on the 12th line~ marks the end of the relationship

  
  

  Change in tenses~ first 3 stanzas are the past tense, last stanza is the present tense.
• Neutral Tones - Structure2

  The rhythmic pattern of the poem is not consistent. This maybe echoes the uncomfortable feeling which existed between the two people

  
  

  The overall structure of the poem is circular rather than linear as it starts and ends in the same geographical place. One interpretation of this is that the speaker has not come to terms with what has happened and revisits the memory.
• Neutral Tones - Structure3

  Rhyme scheme of ABBA, CDDC...

  > Its simplicity supports the idea of a neutral telling of the tale

  
  

  Rhythmic pattern is not consistent

  > Maybe echoes the uncomfortable feeling which existed between the two people involved and in the eventual breakdown of their relationship

  > Disruption suggest he is not as 'neutral' about the breakup as he is protraying

  
  

  Circular structure(returns to beginning)

  > Suggests the speaker is revisits the memory as he has not come to terms with what has happened
• NT vs when we 2 parted

  Sim

  - morbid references to represent sadness

  - Sibilance to create a quiet, somber tone

  Diff

  - NT uses natural imagery whilst ww2p reflects on his internalised feelings
• Extended metaphor of coldness in ww2p


  She appears cold to him so she might've ended the relationship
• Love's philosophy rhyming couplets


  Suggests intensity and unchanging nature of his desire
• "Perfectly pure" porphyria lover

  Plosive alliteration, greedy
• As a shut bud that holds a bee, pl

  Flower imagery = perfection won't last
• Porphyria's lover lack of stanzas

  Stream of conscience

  passive unfurling of events

  speaker views his thoughts as natural
• Starving sod sibilance in nt

  Somber tone
• Time change in letters from yorkshire

  Relationship is continuous, multiple seasons are spoken of
• Walking away


  The father comes to the understanding that aging is a natural process. Every child has to experience the difficult process of gaining independence and every parent has to let go.
• Eden rock vs nt

  Extensive natural imagery to comfort the speaker, but to also rationalise their respective situations within the relationships
• Inconsistent form in winter swans

  Unpredictable nature of relationships
• Sonnet 29 vs singh song


  Sim

  - all consuming nature of love

  - overly positive attitude towards romance

  - sexual implications ("pinnie untied","thy trunk all bare")

  - rebellious

  Diff

  - s29 has a more traditional structure w consistent rhythm - singh wants to break out of father's traditional role

  - s29 rhymes whereas ss uses informal language to make their romance more memorable
• Climbing my grandfather vs follower

  Sim

  - Idolising a family member

  - extended metaphor of an extreme sport to reflect the experience of getting to know & maintaining a relationship

  Diff

  - cmg has a loose structure to be more personal

  - cmg is present, follower is reflecting