﻿Hello and welcome to this lesson about the poem "Before you were mine" by Carol Ann Duffy. In today's lesson, we're going to be analysing the language and structure of this poem. Specifically focusing on what that tells us about the theme of family relationships, or Duffy's relationship with her mother. For today's lesson, all you need is a pen, paper and something to write on or with. Please take a moment now to clear away any distractions, including turning off any notifications on any apps that you have running, or conversations if you know how to. And finally, try to find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed during this lesson. Okay, so when you're ready, let's begin. In this lesson, we're going to be answering this question. How does Duffy present ideas about family relationships in "Before you were mine"? By the end of this lesson, you will have written an extended literature paragraph in response to this. In this lesson, we're going to start with our two key terms that we use for our analysis later. Then we'll look at the themes and symbols that Duffy uses. We'll pick apart some key quotations, looking at her main language methods, analyse the form and structure and then bring all of that together in our literature paragraph as we apply on learning. Let's get started then, with those two key terms that I mentioned before. The first one is Cyclical structure. This is sometimes referred to as Circular structure. Cyclical structure is where a detail or phrase from the beginning of a text is repeated at the end. So in this case, the phrase "Before you were mine," is said at the start of the poem, the title, and then it's repeated again in the final line of the poem, where it says, "That glamorous love lasts where you sparkle" "and waltz and laugh before you were mine." This is generally used to mimic a cycle, perhaps suggesting that something is inevitable, that there's a fate or that something will happen again and again. Please write down cyclical structure and the definition. Now on to our second key term, which is juxtaposition. Juxtaposition is two ideas close to each other in a text for contrasting effect. For example, the juxtaposition between the mansions of the rich and the slums just down the hill was awful to see. Or a second example, in the poem "Prelude", Wordsworth juxtaposes his initial presentation of nature as loving and beautiful, with his later presentation of nature as threatening. Please write your key term juxtaposition, and the definition. Now let's see that you understood that. Which of the following is an example of cyclical structure? Is it A? The world is like a jar of cherries. Happy moments are like the sweet cherries and moments of stress or sadness, or like the sour ones. Enjoy the sweet cherries while you've got them. Or is it B? The world is like a jar of cherries. Happy moments are like the sweet cherries and moments of stress or sadness are like the sour ones. That's right. The world is like a jar of cherries. Pause the video to write your answer. It's coming up in three, two, and one. That's correct. It was B, because it repeats the sentence "The world is like a jar of cherries" at the end when it was first used at the beginning. Mark your answer now, please. And let's check that understood juxtaposition. Which of the following is a correct example of juxtaposition? Is it A? The world is like a jar of cherries. Some moments are happy and sweet. Other moments are sad and sour. Enjoy the sweet cherries while you've got them. Or B. The world is like a jar of cherries. Don't you think cherries are delicious? Just imagine eating a perfectly ripe, sweet cherry. Write down your answer. It's coming up in three, two, and one. The correct answer was A because we've got juxtaposition between happy and sweet on the one hand, and sad and sour on the other hand. Please mark your answer now. Now quick recap of two key words that we did when we first looked at this poem. The first one is possessive, meaning wanting all of someone's attention or love. So Duffy is possessive towards her mother. And the second one is inevitable, meaning something is unavoidable, it cannot be stopped. So Duffy's mum's fate of becoming a stay at home mum is inevitable. If you need to write those down, please do so. Now we're going to look at the central themes and symbols of the poem. The first one is Parent-Child relationships. We know that the main relationship here is between Duffy, the speaker, and her mom. Who this poem is a tribute to. Duffy presents herself as possessive over her mother, and seems to reverse the traditional mother-daughter relationship. The title "Before you were mine" suggests that she feels a sense of ownership over her mother's life. Due to that possessive pronoun "My", which we typically use when we own something. And Duffy seems to be judging her mother's previous relationships when she asks, "Whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart?" As if she's about to tell her mother off for getting Love Bites from someone who she went on a date with. And our next theme is Duty. Duffy juxtaposes her mother's carefree life before motherhood with her domestic, so homely responsibilities after giving birth to demonstrate the consequences of this duty of motherhood. She criticises the patriarchal society of 1950s Britain, as it meant that many women were forced into the role of housewives as they were expected to stay at home and look after their children. And she describes her mother as laughing and "shrieking" with her friends initially, to show her inhibition before motherhood, and then later mourns the loss of this freedom. And Duffy also uses a symbol in this poem. The red high heels of her mother's are a symbol of her mother's passionate, adventurous life that she led before having children. This is because the colour red typically symbolises passion and danger. And her mom would usually wear these impractical shoes, which look very nice, when she's going out to have fun. The fact that after giving birth, her high heels become "relics". So an ancient artefact, something that's no longer used, suggests that she doesn't go out anymore, and therefore, she has no time for having fun now that she is a mother. Now let's check that you understood those themes and the symbol. Please answer the questions below in full sentences. Number one. How is Duffy's relationship with her mother presented? Two. How does the title "Before you were mine" show this? Three. Which two lifestyles does Duffy juxtapose? Four. What is Duffy criticising about society? And five. What could the red high heels symbolised in this poem? Pause the video to answer your questions. The answers are coming up in three, two, and one. Duffy presents herself as possessive over her mother, and seems to reverse the traditional mother-daughter relationship. Two. The title "Before you were mine" suggests that she feels a sense of ownership over her mother's life due to the possessive pronoun "My". Three. Duffy juxtaposes her mother's carefree life before motherhood with her domestic responsibilities after giving birth. And I'm moving on to the next view. Four. She criticises the patriarchal society of 1950s Britain, as it forces women into the role of housewives. And five. The red high heels symbolise the passionate, adventurous life that Duffy's mom led before she had children. Pause the video to check and correct your answers. Now moving on to our language analysis, and we'll start with an overview of the key language methods that Duffy uses to portray motherhood changing her mother's life. The first one is symbolism. The use of images, such as the red high heels, to represent ideas and qualities such as Duffy's mum's fun, carefree life before having children. Two, Metaphor. A comparison where one thing is said to be another. And three, juxtaposition. This is opposite ideas near each other in a text to provide contrast. First, let's look at the juxtaposition in the poem. Duffy juxtaposes the shriek of her mother laughing in line four. Shriek at the pavement, where she's laughing with her friends before having children with the yell in line 11. "My loud possessive yell" is how Duffy describes herself crying as a baby. Let's do the questions now. One. In lines three to four, what is Duffy's mother doing? And therefore, what could the "shriek" demonstrate? Two. In line 11, Duffy asks whether her mother's life was better before she was born. What could the loud possessive yell be describing? Three. What is Duffy showing about her mom's life by juxtaposing the "shriek" and the "yell"? Pause the video to write your answers. They're coming up in three, two, and one. In lines three to four, Duffy's mom is laughing with her friends. The loud "shriek" could show that she doesn't care about the noise they're making, because they're having fun. Therefore, the "shriek" could symbolise her carefree life. Two. In line 11, Duffy asks whether her mother's life was better before she was born. The "loud, possessive yell" could be describing her as a baby, and by describing this yell as "possessive" it could show how she took control over her mother's life. Three. By juxtaposing the carefree "shriek" with the baby's "yell", Duffy points out how her mom has lost freedom as a result of becoming a mother. Pause the video to write your answers or check and correct them now. Next we're looking at line 12. Duffy says, "I remember my hands" "in those high-heeled red shoes, relics." One. The colour red symbolises passion and danger. What do the high-heeled red shoes symbolise? Two. Now the shoes are "relics", they're ancient artefacts which are no longer used, like pieces in a museum. What does this suggest about her mother's life now? And three. By putting her hands in her mother's shoes, Duffy is trying to walk her mother shoes with her hands, almost as if she's following in her footsteps. What does this suggest about Duffy's relationship with her mother? Pause the video to write your answers. They're coming up in three, two, and one. Duffy's mother's red high heels symbolise the passionate, adventurous life that she had before having children. Two. The fact that the shoes are now "relics" suggests that she no longer goes out and therefore she has no time for having fun. Now that she is a mother. Three. By putting her hands in her mother's shoes, Duffy is trying to walk her mother shoes with her hands, suggesting that she admires her mom and wishes to emulate or copy her. Pause the video to check and correct your answers. Now moving on to line 13. "And now your ghost clatters towards me over George Square." She's describing her mom's younger self clattering with her high heels on the pavement on a night out in George Square. Number one. Duffy uses a metaphor comparing her mum going out to a ghost. What are ghosts is typically associated with? Two. Therefore, what is Duffy suggesting about her mum? Three. Clutter refers to the loud sound of her mother's footsteps on the pavement. How does she present her mom through this when she was younger? Pause the video to write your answers. They're coming up in three, two, and one. Duffy compares her mom going out to a "ghost". Ghosts are typically associated with death. Two. Therefore, Duffy suggests that the carefree life that her mom had, where she had fun is dead, as she must now shoulder the burden of motherly responsibility. And three. "Clatter" refers to the loud sound of her mother's footsteps on the pavement, suggesting that when her mom was younger, she was more flamboyant, she was out there and had the freedom to behave however she wanted. Pause the video to check and correct your answers. Now we're going to look at the structure of this poem. Starting off with the stanza lengths. Duffy uses four stanzas. All of them are the same length, they're all five lines each. This creates a sense of monotony. Monotony is kind of like boredom where everything is the same. And that is because every stanza is the same length here. What could this unchanging structure mimic about Duffy's mother's life? And two. What else could the strict controlled structure mimic about Duffy's relationship with her mum? Pause the video and I So those now. Moving on to your answers, please check and correct these as we go. Number one. This sense of monotony created by all the stanzas being the same length could mimic how boring Duffy's mother's life is now that she has had to give up the fun that she enjoyed due to motherhood. The unchanging structure could also mimic the inevitability of women's roles as stay at home mothers due to the patriarchal society. So that's the idea that no matter what women would definitely become stay at home mothers because that was the expectation. Two. The strict, controlled structure for stanzas being the same length could mimic Duffy's possessive relationship with her mom, where she feels that she has taken over her mom's life. Pause the video to check and correct those answers. Now looking at the circular or cyclical structure in the poem. As I showed you before, the line "Before you were mine" is first written in the title at the start of the poem, and then it's repeated again in the final line of the poem. So Duffy uses cyclical structure, repeating that title during and at the end. What could this cycle mimic about Duffy's mother's life? And therefore, why might Duffy use cyclical structure? Pause the video to write your answers now. And let's check and correct those answers. Number one. Duffy uses cyclical structure, repeating the title during and at the end of the poem. This could mimic the cycle of women's lives in 1950s Britain as they all become housewives. Two. Therefore, Duffy uses cyclical structure to criticise the inevitability of women losing their freedom and becoming housewives as a result of the patriarchal society. Pause the video to check and correct your answers. Now we're going to apply our learning to that literature paragraph that I told you about at the start. Our question is, how does Duffy present ideas about family relationships in "Before you were mine"? I want you to spend at least 15 minutes writing this paragraph and I want you to include how Duffy presents her mother's life before and after giving birth. What Duffy is saying about motherhood and society more generally. And how the context of the poem, when it was set, impacts upon how her love is presented. Try to include quotations and your language and structure analysis here, as well as the context. Some words you may wish to include are inevitable. Remember that we spoke about it being inevitable, unavoidable, that Duffy's mom would become a stay at home mother. The next word is possessive. Duffy is possessive over her mom. Then we've got the key term cyclical structure, meaning it's circular. What was said at the beginning is repeated again at the end. Juxtaposition, opposites in the poem. And you can comment on how she's criticising the patriarchal society. Pause your video and answer that now, please. You could have written something like this. Daffy presents her relationship with her mom as possessive through the title "Before you were mine", which suggests that she feels as though she has control over her mom's life due to the possessive pronoun "My". She juxtaposes her mom's carefree "shriek" of laughter before she has Duffy with the baby's "yell" later in the poem. Duffy uses this juxtaposition to point out how her mom has lost freedom as a result of becoming a mother. Duffy could be speaking more widely about the patriarchal society, and how women were given less freedom than men. This is a pretty good response, we can see that they've got some key terminology there with possessive pronoun and juxtaposition. And they've got at least three quotations. They've also got a clear point at the beginning. And they have commented on the patriarchal society at the end. But they go into more detail. I'm going to show you a more developed response now. This is our developed answer. Duffy present her mother's lack of freedom as a result of motherhood through the title "Before you were mine", which suggests that she feels as though she has control over her mom's life due to the possessive pronoun "my". Furthermore, this is repeated at the end of the poem, creating a cyclical structure, which could mimic the inevitable cycle of women in 1950s Britain becoming housewives. Furthermore, Duffy highlights her mother's loss of freedom by juxtaposing her mum's carefree "shriek" of laughter before she has Duffy with the baby's possessive "yell". Duffy's use of the adjective "possessive" to describe the yell further highlights how from birth, Duffy controlled and changed her mom's life. Through this poem, Duffy describes her mom's loss of freedom in order to criticise the oppressive fate of many women due to the patriarchal society. Now oppressive here means a lack of freedom. So you can immediately see that this student's use of vocabulary is more developed. But also they've weaved the context. And what Duffy's trying to do with this poem, so her message through the paragraph, rather than just putting it at the end. I'd like you now to look at your own response, and see if there's anything that you've missed out add that in, and then just assess your paragraph compared to this one. Now, I'd like you to complete the short five question review quiz which is on the link. That brings us to the end of today's lesson. A really big well done on all the learning you've achieved today. I'd now like you to look back at your notes from this lesson and identify the three most important things that you've learned. It's totally up to you what they are. Thank you for learning with me and have a great day.

In this lesson, we are going to take a closer look at the language, form and structure Duffy uses to create meaning within the poem. We will be focusing specifically on the theme of family relationships in our analysis.

English

Y11 English

Key Stage 4

Year 11

Miss

Before you were mine (Part 2)

AQA Love and Relationships Poetry

Anthology Poetry

THEME

UNIT

When We Two Parted (Part 1)

When We Two Parted (Part 2)

Love's philosophy (Part 1)

Love's Philosophy (Part 2)

Sonnet 29 (Part 1)

Sonnet 29 (Part 2)

Porphyria's Lover (Part 1)

Porphyria's Lover (Part 2)

Neutral Tones (Part 1)

Neutral Tones (Part 2)

Winter Swans (Part 1)

Winter Swans (Part 2)

The Farmer's Bride (Part 1)

The Farmer's Bride (Part 2)

Before you were mine (Part 1)

Eden Rock (Part 1)

Eden Rock (Part 2)

Lesson overview: Before you were mine (Part 2)

Intro Quiz

Video

Exit Quiz

Transcript

18 lessons in AQA Love and Relationships Poetry: