Before you were mine

• Structure - (BYWM)

  first three stanzas - separated pronouns 'i' 'you' to highlight physical and emotional distance

  Final stanza they come together in the activities they had together 'you'd teach me the steps

  Simple sentence structure as it is from the perspective of a child

  Lots of caesuras - conversational tone suggesting familiarity and a level of comfort in her bond with her mother

  Enaleptic frames - Flashback to her childhood

  Semi autobiographical
• Language (BYWM)

  Vivid imagery - 'Ballroom with the thousand eyes' 'polka dot dress blows around your legs' - hyperbolic 'thousand eyes' suggest pride for her mother

  'Marylin' - Hollywood glitz and glamour

  Verbs - 'Shriek' and 'Laugh' suggests her bond with her mother is strong enough she can imagine the auditory accompaniments with the photo

  Synesthesia - used two or more senses to create vivid imagery for the reader
• Language (BYWM)

  Possessive language - 'mine' sets an assertive tone for the poem

  Religious connotations - 'mass' creates conflict between the catholic mother and the sexualised images of her earlier in the poem
• Who wrote before you were mine?

  Carol Ann Duffy