Before You Were Mine By Caroline Ann Duffy Flashcards
What happens in the poem
Narrator looking at an image of her mother when she was younger
Narrator imagines her mother before she was born
Realises that her mother was glamorous and loving before she was born.
Form of the poem
Made up of 4 equal stanzas
Consistent form reflects steady passage of time and inevitable changes that time brings
Structure of the poem
Begins and ends with her mother on a pavement-clear decision between before and after
How si possessive language presented
When the narrator was born she took control of her mother and her freedoms
Reversal of the usual stereotype of parents holding back their children
Suggestions of colloquial language
Creates an imaginary conversation with her mother -close, familiar relationship
“My loud ,possessive yell”
Demanding child
“My hands in those high-heeled red shoes,relics,”
Portrays the contrast between teenage years and motherhood
“Stamping stars from the wrong pavement”
Suggests the daughter took her mother on the wrong path
Compare poem to
Mother any distance (admiration of family )
