The whole entire poem looks back on the poet’s (the child’s) life, “before I was born”. The first incident she relates to took place ten years before her own birth, “I’m ten years away from the corner…” The events in the mother’s life that interest the poet, Carol Ann Duffy, are those of love when young. The memories recounted in the poem are those of the mother and would have been told to the child at various points in her life.
The poem is written in four equal stanzas of five lines each. This helps us to visualize photos in an album, and to realize the amount of time passing away. The poet achieves this by reminding us that ten years after the photo was taken, the happy, bold teenager became a mother to the poet. The most notable effect the poet uses in the poem are the short length lines, “tommorows” (line 8) is a major theme of the poem, and “one, eh?” in line 13 contains the end of the mother’s fun filled youth and a word that indicates her current relationship with her daughter. “sweetheart?” in line 18 emphasizes the beginning of the mother’s ‘sexual’ relationships. Then, “Mass” on the next line, line 20, contrasts heavily with the fun and glamour that surrounds it and perhaps indicates the dutiful position the mother has been in since she had the child. Enjambment is heavily used throughout the poem, so that the reader reads the poem quickly, and gets the main points clear. Line 25 contains the single word “mine”, and this word reminds us of the possessiveness of the speaker. One of the most interesting lines in the poem, I personally think, is “stamping stars from the wrong pavement”. Literally, the sentence is describing the shoes the child and her mother were wearing, which had metal tips, and the stamping the pavement produced small sparks. “the wrong pavement” may be conveyed as a reference to the Hollywood film stars’ names which are embedded on pavement.
The language contributes a tremendous amount to the mood of the poem. There are many references to the child’s mother as being happy and bright, “you laugh” and “the bold girl winking in Portobello”, as well as “you sparkle and waltz and laugh” show this.
Life back then is seen as glamorous. The mother is linked to Marilyn and goes to a dance where a glitter ball hangs, “the thousand eyes”. The mother dreams of “fizzy, movie tommorows”, and the child imagines his/her mother meeting a boyfriend, “under the tree, with its lights”.
The poem is written in the present tense, as if the events are happening now. It is obvious that the poet is trying to make her mother’s past as real as possible. The poet also has a very confident, assertive voice, and makes definite statements, “I’m not here yet”.
The ballroom with “the thousand eyes” sets a very romantic scene and we can understand how the poet’s mother would have been excited to go there, as most teenagers would be at that age, and would risk staying out late. “thousand eyes” conveys that the mother went to meet or find someone for her. Throughout the poem, the poet is very possessive of her mother. References to her appear constantly, “I’m ten years away,”, “I’m not here yet,”, and “I remember,” shows us this. The word “Mine” appears in the title and the poem concludes with the same word as the title; this is a noticeable effect. It seems as if the poem is somewhat “trapped”. This proves the point about the poet being possessive of her mother.
The line “I see you, clear as scent” is difficult to understand, because you cannot see scent. The poet must have imagined what her mother looks like so clearly that she can almost smell the scene. Note that ‘scent’ is also quite a romantic word.
The poet tells us that the poem is personal, as she includes the names of her mother’s boyfriends, “Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff”. I think the poem is set in the 1950’s, simply because of the language used throughout, and also the names sound as if they were from that time. Comparisons can also be made throughout the poem, for this.
Because the poem is personal, it’s full of feelings. It’s very affectionate as it could almost be described as a love poem to her mother. The poet admires and is grateful for the way her mother livened her childhood, “You’d teach me the steps on the way home from Mass”. The poet’s imaginary view of her mother’s life is also given, “your ghost clatters towards me”.
The main ideas and attitudes the poet is trying to show are that the poet romanticizes her mother and the glamorous life she used to lead. She longs to see her mother as she once was, before she was tied down with motherhood. The poet recognizes that all mothers have mothers – her mothers mother used to ‘stand at the close with a hiding for the late one,” perhaps because the poet’s mother now watches out for her. The poet is re-examining her own feelings as a daughter.
In conclusion, the poem deals with two sets of memories. The first set belongs to the child; memories of her mother’s dancing shoes and of being taught to dance by her mother. The second set belongs to the child’s mother. The mother must have talked to her child about her youth, and so therefore the child has built up a picture of its excitement and glamour. The daughter is discontented because she was not actually present during these events, but she imagines them vividly and, of course, owes her existence to the fact that her mother met her father. Finally, the underlying theme is a sort of jealousy as indicated by the title, “Before You Were Mine”. The past histories of the people we love are often fascinating and the ‘possessive’ child in this poem wants to be able to enter into his/her mother’s past.
