The poem ‘Homecoming’ is structured as each paragraph has significance. The first paragraph is a universal reference to all relationships. The second paragraph shows conflict between Armitage’s wife and her mother while his wife was at nursery. The third paragraph again shows conflict between Armitage’s wife and her mother at a older age of about sixteen where Armitage’s wife is about to runaway from home. In the last paragraph it shows the transition of Armitage’s wife’s life changing. Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Before You Were Mine’ is structures chronologically which means it is structured in order of time. The first stanza shows Duffy’s mother as a child. The second stanza shows Duffy’s mother as a teenager. The third stanza shows Duffy’s childhood. The last stanza shows how Duffy feels haunted by the vision of her mother.
In both poems the poets employ many language techniques to illustrate relationships. In ‘Homecoming’ Simon Armitage begins with ‘Think’. He does this purposely as the word think is a universal reference to all relationships. The whole first stanza is an extended metaphor ‘The first, that exercise in trust, where those in front stand with their arms spread wide and free – fall backwards blind, and those behind take all the weight. Armitage uses an extended metaphor about trust to get his feelings across. In the second paragraph Armitage uses the ‘one canary – yellow cotton jacket’ to signify his wife’s childhood. Armitage used the ‘yellow cotton jacket’ as it must have been an important item from his wife’s childhood. In the third line of the second paragraph Armitage uses the metaphor ‘becoming scuffed and blackened underfoot’. Armitage uses this metaphor as it represents the character being bullied or growing up. In this poem the poet uses repetition ‘the very model of a model of a mother’. The poet uses this technique to accentuate that she was the perfect mother. Within the poem the poet uses colloquial term ‘two and two together’. The poet uses this colloquial term to add a sense of realism. Also the colloquial term is also a cliché as it has been used so many times in society that it has lost its meaning.
In the poem Armitage uses ‘Temper, temper’ to show that a row has broken out in the house. Armitage also makes use of exaggeration ‘Blue murder. Bed’. Armitage uses over exaggeration in the poem to highlight, and instigate the situation making it bigger than it really is. The line is also a short sentence as each word is monosyllabic. In the third paragraph the poet uses the word ‘call box’ to show that these events happened a long time ago. The poet also uses the word ‘I’m’ to make a point that she doesn’t really want to leave home. In the poem Armitage uses the second person pronoun ‘you’. He uses this second person pronoun to show that his wife can decide the nature of the relationships. Towards the end of the poem Armitage brings back the use of the ‘one canary – yellow cotton jacket’ to symbolise innocence, love and trust. At the end of the poem Armitage finishes with ‘It still fits’. Armitage finishes on a short sentence to show that her life has changed.
In Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Before You Were Mine’ the poem starts off with ‘I’m’ indicating that the poem is personal as ‘I’m’ is a first person pronoun. In the first line of the poem Duffy begins with a metaphor ‘ten years away from the corner’. This is metaphorical distance measured by time. Duffy like Armitage employs the colloquial terms such as ‘pals’. She does this to add a sense of realism as colloquial terms are used so often in modern day society. Duffy also gives the names of her mothers friends ‘McGeeney’ and ‘Duff’. She uses the real Scottish names of the characters to shows that those friends are important. Duffy also uses verbs in her poem for instance ‘bends’ and ‘shriek’. The poet uses these verbs as it is an active, fun and typical action. Duffy also names the clothes her mother was wearing as ‘polka – dot dress’. Duffy names the clothes to show that her mother dressed in fashion. Duff also compares her mum to Marilyn Munroe ‘polka – dot dress blows round your legs Marilyn’. Duffy compares her mother to Marilyn Munroe as she was a screen icon who was very glamorous so indirectly she was commenting that her mother was stunning.
Duffy starts the second paragraph grammatically incorrect saying ‘I’m not here yet’. Duffy says this purposely so the reader can picture it in his head. Duffy says ‘ballroom with the thousand eyes, the fizzy movie’. Duffy uses this as it alludes to someone famous. Duffy again thinks highly of her mother saying ‘I knew you would dance like that’. Duffy says this to imply that her dance was perfect as if she were a princess. Duffy also becomes rather possessive in poem saying ‘Before you were mine’ as if her mother was an item. Duff also uses alliteration ‘hands in those high heeled’. Duffy uses alliteration as it is easy to remember. Duffy also uses ‘high heeled red shoes, relics’ to symbolises passion and youth. Duffy also employs onomatopoeia to. Duff also makes use of similes for instance ‘clear as a scent’.
