Before You Were Mine Flashcards
What is the poem about?
The poetic voice reflecting on her mother’s life in the 1950’s and how they feel jealousy towards her mother’s past joy.
Meaning of ‘Before’ in the title?
A preposition with temporal deixis which suggests a pre-existing state that the poetic voice cannot access.
Use of pronouns in the title.
‘You’- second person pronoun which addresses the reader.
‘Mine’- first person pronoun: controlling, ego-centric narrative.
Techniques in the quotation: “Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn.”
Intertextual reference to the ‘Seven Year Itch’ film with Marilyn, who acts as an epoch marker (along with the polka dot dress) who embodied the glamour of the 1950s.
Techniques in: ‘stamping stars from the wrong pavement’.
The negative adjectives shows that the mother is not in the correct place and was destined for something more; like Hollywood. This is emphasised by the contrasting nouns of ‘stars’ and ‘pavement’, linking with the opposition of the ground and the sky.
What is the other name for parallel narratives?
Enalpetic frames: story within a story
Themes in the poem
Relationship with mother transcending earthy plains, loss, memory, love, family, connection, egotistical narratives.
Techniques and meanings in the quote: “where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine.”
A semantic field happiness created by the lexical set of verbs which are asyndetically listed. The speaker than reclaims ownership at the end by repetition of the title.
