Critical Appreciation of Before You Were Mine by Carol Ann Duffy.

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Critical Appreciation of Before You Were Mine by Carol Ann Duffy

The poem is written in first person perspective, the protagonist seemingly being the daughter of the woman or mother that is being described in the poem. The daughter reminisces about the time when her mother was young and carefree. She talks both about and to her mother with passion, respect and love, which allows the poem to have a light hearted and “happy” tone to it. The speaker of this poem recalls with fondness how much fun her mother had when she was young with no responsibilities, which leads us into the underlying problem with the situation, that she now has a daughter, which ultimately leads to the “end” of her mother’s youth.

The tone of this poem is certainly loving and admiring of her mother, the daughter being in awe of her care free spirit, “I knew you would dance like that.” This in turn leads the reader to think of the subject’s mother with affection too, due to our only having her opinion on this woman. The fact that we are in awe of her mother and her mother’s lifestyle heightens the sadness we may feel at the loss of her youth which is brought on by her having a child, more so than if we were indifferent to her mother. The tone also creates a sense that the speaker is just thinking out loud, not particularly to an audience, by her use of random phrases and enjambment, which is suitable to her thoughts as she thinks of them, “Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn.” So she may not necessarily intend this to be heard by an audience, which elevates the intimate bond between her and her mother. Also the use of colloquialisms such as “eh,” “a hiding” and “your Ma” in her conversational tone convey the feeling of this having being a relaxed and unplanned monologue to her mother. There being no rhyme in this poem is evidence to support this, her daughter feels no need to “varnish” or improve what she has to say about her mother, what she is saying should grab the reader’s attention by itself rather by having the words audibly attractive to hear.

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The speaker goes back a “decade,” to the time that her mother would “laugh with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff.” The fact that these friends have names is emphatic for the reader, and gives a general feeling of being there because of the detail the scene is described in, rather than if they were just described as “friends.” These friends were people. Although their names are not important to our general understanding of the poem’s content and nature, it extends our feelings of regard towards her mother. The “Marilyn,” at the end of the poem creates strong ...

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