Before You Were Mine- Quotes + Context Flashcards
Finish the quotation- I’m ____ ______ away“ This 1st person pronoun shows how possessive the daughter is over her mother’s attention and this quotation as a whole represents the different mindset the mother has at this time.
ten years
Finish the quotation- “Your _____-___ dress blows around your legs _______” This is imagery of partying in the 1950s and shows how her mother was in keeping with fashion at the the time and the idea of motherhood is not present here, perhaps implying a sense of immaturity.
Polka-dot, Marilyn
Finish the quotation- “In the ballroom with the _______ ____” This quotation is a metaphor for the mother previously feeling insecure about her appearance due to societal standards and he much she liked to party, which contrasts heavily to motherhood she would focus on later.
thousand eyes
Finish the quotation- “I knew you would ____ ____ ____” This implies a sense of parental familiarity between the daughter and mother and perhaps this is suggesting the daughter knew what she used to be like and is just looking back on it.
dance like that
Finish the quotation- “ Your Ma stands at the close with a hiding ____ ____ ____ _____” This quotation uses colloquial language and implies an informal relationship and that the mother was irresponsible in her past and ultimately didn’t think about the future enough, the daughter sounds as if she looks down on her mother, implying a lack of maturity for the mother.
For the late one
Finish the quotation- “The decade ahead of my ____ _______ _____ was the best one, eh?” This rhetorical question is asked in
an informal way, implying a lack of maturity in the mother and shows how perhaps the daughter is jealous of the mother as she didn’t get to experience this sort of lifestyle. the caesura implies she wants to emphasise to her mother the jealousy she feels.
loud, possessive yell
Finish the quotation- “I remember my hands in those ____-_________ _____ _____” This imagery shows how the mother used to dress up for parties before motherhood which continues the theme of being in keeping with the times, fashionable and perhaps immature or romantic.
high-heeled red shoes
Finish the quotation- “Now your ghost ______ ______ __” This quotation implies that the relationship is so strong between them that daughter can feel her presence by being reminded of her and implies she lives on in her memory
clatters towards me
Finish the quotation- “You’d teach me the steps on the way home ____ _____” This quotation highlights religious imagery and juxtaposes partying with praying, perhaps implying that the mother was a sinner.
from mass
Finish the quotation “That glamorous love lasts where you _____ ____ _______ and laugh before you were mine” This is an example of romantic imagery and shows that the mother wasn’t considering motherhood before and perhaps the daughter feels jealous or neglected by this.
sparkle and waltz
Finish the sentence about context- “The daughter- Carol Ann Duffy is thought to be looking at a ______ of her mother, reminiscing on who she was before longer before she was born.”
picture
Finish the sentence about context- “Carol Ann Duffy was raised in the 1950s as a _____ ________ in __________, which explains some of the colloquial language and religious imagery used in the poem.”
Roman Catholic, in Scotland.
Finish the sentence about the form of “Before you were mine”- “This poem is written in ____ ______”
Free Verse
Finish the sentence about the structure of Before You Were Mine- “This poem is written in 4 sets of _________” The rigid structure of the poem reflects that in the relationship and each of these is thought to be a different picture that the speaker is observing.
Quatrains
How is love depicted in Before You Were Mine?
Love is strong and maternal, but there is an indication that the possessive love may have detrimentally affected her mother.
