Before you were mine 2 Learning objective: I insightfully comment on the way that meaning is conveyed in a poem Learning objective: I insightfully comment on the way that meaning is conveyed in a poem Starter (5 mins): Write 2/3 sentences on the following questions - What do you think you mother was like before you were born? What effect does having a child have on the lifestyle of a young woman? Starter (5 mins): Write 2/3 sentences on the following questions - What do you think you mother was like before you were born? What effect does having a child have on the lifestyle of a young woman?

The poem is quite difficult to follow for two reasons: firstly, it moves very freely between present and past. Secondly, the title suggests romantic love but the poem is actually about mother and daughter relationships. The poem is written as if the girl is observing the life of her mother before she was born. The narrator contrasts her mother’s romantic whirlwind life with the reality of motherhood which comes 10 years later. The poem is quite difficult to follow for two reasons: firstly, it moves very freely between present and past. Secondly, the title suggests romantic love but the poem is actually about mother and daughter relationships. The poem is written as if the girl is observing the life of her mother before she was born. The narrator contrasts her mother’s romantic whirlwind life with the reality of motherhood which comes 10 years later. Learning question : What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’

Before You Were Mine I'm ten years away from the corner you laugh on with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff The three of you bend from the waist, Holding each other, or your knees, and shriek at the pavement. Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn. Learning question: What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’ Speaking directly to her mum Shows the BIG gap in time between the speaker’s birth and her mum’s youth and fun Mother compared to Marilyn Monroe – she was glamorous and desirable.

I'm not here yet. The thought of me doesn't occur in the ballroom with the thousand eyes, the fizzy, movie tomorrows the right walk home could bring. I knew you would dance like that, Before you were mine, your Ma stands at the close with a hiding for the late one. You reckon it's worth it. Life without her – free without children Centre of attention Her mum’s mum waits to beat her for being late but her mum isn’t scared of having fun Learning question: What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’

The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh? I remember my hands in those high-heeled red shoes, relics and now your ghost clatters toward me over George Square till I see you, clear as scent, under the tree, with its lights, and whose small bites on your neck, sweetheart? The past is dead now She addresses her mother as a Mum would normally address her daughter – reversal of roles Learning question: What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’

Cha cha cha! You'd teach me the steps on the way home from Mass, stamping stars from the wrong pavement. Even then I wanted the bold girl winking in Portobello, somewhere, in Scotland, before I was born. That glamorous love lasts where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine. Life without her – free without children – the phrase is repeated to show that childbirth was a turning point. She is curious about who her mum was before she came along Learning question: What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’

Duffy creates several striking images in the poem where ideas are linked or comparisons made by the use of metaphors. In an interview, Duffy explained that the image ‘the ballroom with a thousand eyes’ (line 7) refers to a mirror-ball which rotates and reflects shafts of light from its tiny mirrors. This image could also suggest that dancers are on show in a ballroom, with everyone’s eyes on each other. Task (10 mins) Explain these metaphors from the poem. What ideas are suggested in these images? 1.‘The fizzy, movie tomorrows/ the right walk home could bring’ (lines 7 & 8) 2.‘Stamping stars from the wrong pavement’ (line 17) Think about How these images contrast between the life which the mother hoped for when she was a teenager and the very different life she came to lead when she became a mother.

Task (15) mins: Answer the following questions in full sentences - 1)Which words suggest that the mother was young and glamorous like a certain 50’s icon? 2)What does the phrase ‘loud possessive yell’ suggest about the poet and her mother’s relationship? Refer to the title of the poem in your answer. 3)What feelings are conveyed by the word ‘relics’ to describe the mother’s ‘high heeled red shoes’? 4)What does he simile ‘clear as scent’ suggest? 5)What images does the final stanza leave you with? Challenge: Make a list of all the poetic techniques used in this poem and find quotations to support them e.g. Listing, alliteration, metaphor, short sentences... Learning question: What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’

Plenary (10 mins) Write a paragraph in response to the following question: What would the poet’s mother think of the poem? Would she be flattered or a bit worried by her daughter’s thoughts about what she was like in past? Learning question: What is the message behind ‘Before you were Mine?’