ShoShow how Duffy conveys her feelings about a member/ member of her family in ‘Before You Were Mine’
Show how Duffy conveys her feelings about a member of her family in ‘Before You Were Mine’
In ‘Before You Were Mine’, Carol Ann Duffy uses a large range of poetic techniques to convey her feelings about her mother. The title of the poem contains a possessive pronoun that makes the reader instantly get a sense of possessiveness towards her mother, rather than the original thought that a mother would be saying that about her child, which shows an inverse on the usual way to use the phrase.
The first stanza conveys Duffy’s thoughts when she finds a photograph of her mother, ten years before Duffy was born. I begins by setting a image of her mother enjoying herself with her two friends. In which they ‘bend from the waist’ and ‘shriek at the pavement’. This shows a lively, carefree exiting atmosphere that supports the views on the life of a teenager. She also uses two iconic pictures to describe her mother. One of which is of Marilyn Monroe, in the 1950s which is meant to portray glamour. This is expressed when it says ‘Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn’, describing the picture, and showing that Duffy thinks her mother was glamorous at the time, when she was younger.
In the second stanza, Duffy tries to portray her mother’s beauty. This is shown when it reads ‘in the ballroom with the thousand eyes’. This conveys that her mother must be very beautiful if she can get a thousand eyes just following her. If she can get all that attention, from so many eyes. In the second stanza she also expresses the belief that her mother was rebellious when it came to follow her own mothers rules. This is shown when it says ‘ Your ma stands...with a hiding for the late one. You reckon it’s worth it’. This shows that her mother could be mischievous and it also her expresses her youth. With the carefree attitude and the carelessness for consequences.
The third stanza gives the reader a sense of regret. This is conveyed when it reads ‘ my loud, possessive yell’. This
In ‘Before You Were Mine’, Carol Ann Duffy uses a large range of poetic techniques to convey her feelings about her mother. The title of the poem contains a possessive pronoun that makes the reader instantly get a sense of possessiveness towards her mother, rather than the original thought that a mother would be saying that about her child, which shows an inverse on the usual way to use the phrase.
The first stanza conveys Duffy’s thoughts when she finds a photograph of her mother, ten years before Duffy was born. I begins by setting a image of her mother enjoying herself with her two friends. In which they ‘bend from the waist’ and ‘shriek at the pavement’. This shows a lively, carefree exiting atmosphere that supports the views on the life of a teenager. She also uses two iconic pictures to describe her mother. One of which is of Marilyn Monroe, in the 1950s which is meant to portray glamour. This is expressed when it says ‘Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn’, describing the picture, and showing that Duffy thinks her mother was glamorous at the time, when she was younger.
In the second stanza, Duffy tries to portray her mother’s beauty. This is shown when it reads ‘in the ballroom with the thousand eyes’. This conveys that her mother must be very beautiful if she can get a thousand eyes just following her. If she can get all that attention, from so many eyes. In the second stanza she also expresses the belief that her mother was rebellious when it came to follow her own mothers rules. This is shown when it says ‘ Your ma stands...with a hiding for the late one. You reckon it’s worth it’. This shows that her mother could be mischievous and it also her expresses her youth. With the carefree attitude and the carelessness for consequences.
The third stanza gives the reader a sense of regret. This is conveyed when it reads ‘ my loud, possessive yell’. This