Before You Were Mine

Question 1

ao5

Answer 1

'’At a time when cleverness and coolness are at a premium among poers of her generation, her passion and compassion are unfashionable values’

Question 2

ao3

Answer 2

Post war style of dress, fabric was not conservatively used. Colloquialism, regional accent of the era.

Question 3

ao4

Answer 3

Faith Healing

Question 4

1. ‘Im ten years away from the corner you laugh on’
2. ‘The three of you bend from the waist, holding (enjab), each other’
3. ‘Your polka dot dress blows around your legs. Marilyn’

Answer 4

1. Old photos, presentatin of the woman before motherhood, first of time references. The ‘corner’ as a turning point in life, introduces the path motif and the departure of girlhood to womanhood.
2. Self-sufficient, independent women holding eachother, sense of a closeness and bond between them. Connotes to ease and the bliss of youth.
3. The blank verse and enjambement mimicks a conversational tone, ao3- changing of expression through fashion. Marilyn Monroe ws infamous in the 1960s, a figure of the perfect woman or a sexual symbol for some. She dies young which can mirror the death of the persona’s mother’s youth.

Question 5

1. ‘The thought of me doesn’t occur (enjab) in the ballroom with the thousand eyes’
2. ‘the right walk home could bring’
3. ’ Before you were mine, your Ma stands at the close’

Answer 5

1. The youth of the mother is a continued theme. The ‘eyes’ could represent the power of the male gaze.
2. Continuation of th path motif, the path that conforms to societal expectations and the path that deviates, an intuative closeness between them.
3. The colloquialism through ‘Ma’ , the circularity of life for women in this era, abiding by the stereotype of the woman as the symbol of domesticity.

Question 6

1. ’ The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh?’
2. ‘high-heeled red shoes, relics’
3. ‘your ghost clatters towards me over George Square’

Answer 6

1. ‘possessive’ indicates that the mother’s life is now changed to fit around the child. She is entrapped with the child but free i her youth. Suggests motherhood worsens the quality of a woman’s life.
2. Links to stanza 1 with the repeated motif of Marilyn Monroe to symbolise blissful youth, ‘relics’ creates a sense of nostalgia the mother is immobilised by the child and she can no longer wear the heels.
3. Juxtaposes the imagery of the high heels, once again mourning the mother’s youth.

Question 7

1. ’ stamping stars on the wrong pavement’
2. ‘where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine’

Answer 7

1. Points towards the notion of wasted potential or the woman went down the wrong path and is teaching her daughter to do the same thing.
2. Time reference continues. ‘sparkle’ and ‘waltz’ are joyful movements, suggesting the mother was at her optimum, peak.

Question 8

Title

Answer 8

Passage of time, mother and daughter bond, possessive pronoun gives a positive interprtation about the relationship.
The personas are unnamed meaning they cannot be separated from each other.