Before You Were Mine Flashcards
What is the poem BYWM about?
A child considering her mother’s glamorous life before she was born. It can also be viewed as a criticism of the inevitable status of women to be stay at home mothers
What is the form of BYWM?
some of the conventions of a dramatic monologue such as direct address
What is the structure of BYWM?
Half of the poem is focused on “you” and the mother whereas the other half is focused on “I”
enjambment links to mothers freedom being lost to be come a wife
questions and interjection give a conversational tone
What is the context for BYWM?
1940s to 1950s expectations for women were very domestic
once you had a child your “going out” days were over
Carol Ann Duffy is a poet from Scotland and local references make it seem personal
What does the title BYWM mean?
“were” - no escape from cycle, cyclical repetition
“mine” - possessiveness, belonging, direct address to mother, inevitability of domestic life
What is special about the start of each stanza?
they start with time phrases except from the last stanza which emphasises the value of time in a women life before she is trapped in the cycle of domestic life
reminder of the distance between mother and child
Time phrases quotes:
“I’m ten years apart”
“I’m not here yet”
“the decade ahead”
Finish the quote: “your polka-dot dress…”
“your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn”
Analyse the quote: “your polka dot dress blows around your legs. Marilyn”
free woman. positivity and negativity
caesura shows the break between the past and present
Close analysis: “Marilyn”
Marilyn was unable to have children. She died young and so did Duffys mothers life end with her birth
Finish the quote: “I remember my hands…”
“I remember my hands in those high heeled red shoes, relics”
Analyse the quote: “I remember my hands in those high heeled red shoes, relics”
Child Duffy plays with her mothers things.
Close analysis of quote: “I remember my hands in those high heeled red shoes, relics”
red- connotations with promiscuity and scandal so do women who are not following the domestic life follow this. passion and vibrance of youth that has been stripped away.
relics- something that captures the essence of the time it comes from and is important to someone, skeleton of her old life
power in the relic, loss of power?
vivid imagination
Analyse the quote: “and whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart”
Duffy is modern and scandalous conversational, intimate, and has different expectations for mother
Analyse the quote: “Cha cha cha”
onomatopoeia reflecting excitement of past life and glamour of the 50s
