Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy:

Question 1

Context:

Answer 1

Autobiographical – personal experiences.

Question 2

Summary:

Answer 2

The narrator looks at a photograph to consider her mother’s previously glamorous life

Question 3

Form:

Answer 3

Four equal stanzas of five lines – this consistent form reflects the steady passage of time and the inevitable changes that time brings.

Question 4

Structure:

Answer 4

The poem begins and ends in the same way - the mother on the pavement with her friends, and then her daughter. This emphasises the changes that time has brought – clear division before and after the poet was born.

Question 5

Exciting Language:

Answer 5

Fun and glamorous.

Question 6

Possessive Language:

Answer 6

The speaker believes that when she was born, she took control of her mum, and took away her mum. This reverses the idea that children want to break free – the child stopped her parent having fun.

Question 7

Colloquial Language:

Answer 7

Creates an imaginary conversation with her mother – close, familiar relationship.

Question 8

Themes:

Answer 8

Admiration – Of her mum’s glamour her headstrong, rebellious approach to life.

Nostalgia – Wishes her mum were the same. Ironic – the child wants a version before they were born.

Self – Criticism – For taking away her mum’s freedom.

Question 9

Compare to:

Answer 9

Follower, Eden Rock, Mother Any Distance.