12.1.3

Key Quotes & Comparisons

Test yourself

Key Quotes in Before You Were Mine

Here are some examples of key quotes in Carol Ann Duffy's Before You Were Mine:

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‘That glamorous love lasts...'

  • ‘That glamorous love lasts / where you sparkle and waltz and laugh before you were mine’.
    • This shows the glamour of her mother's life as imagined by the narrator.
    • This also shows the narrator's desire to possess even the memories of the past ('before you were mine').
Illustrative background for <b>‘The decade ahead...'Illustrative background for <b>‘The decade ahead...' ?? "content

‘The decade ahead...'

  • ‘The decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one eh?’
    • In this poem, the poet suggests that motherhood can be a burden, especially compared to the excitement of life before the 'loud, possessive yell' of a child takes over.

Key Comparisons: Before You Were Mine

Here are some suggestions for poems you could compare Before You Were Mine to. Remember, there are endless options!

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Mother, Any Distance/Walking Away

  • Compare:
    • Distanced family relationships.
    • Looking to the past.
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Eden Rock

  • Compare:
    • Distorted presentation of the parents and the past.
    • Both poems use an amalgamation (mix) of memories and imagined scenes.

Jump to other topics

1When We Two Parted - Lord Byron (1788-1824)

2Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley

3Porphyria’s Lover - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

4Sonnet 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

4.1Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’ Analysis

5Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

6Letters from Yorkshire - Maura Dooley (Born 1957)

7The Farmer’s Bride - Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)

8Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)

9Eden Rock - Charles Causley (1917-2003)

10Follower - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

11‘Mother, Any Distance’ - Simon Armitage (Born1963

12Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy (Born 1955)

13Winter Swans - Owen Sheers (Born 1974)

14Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra (Born 1966)

15Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

16Grade 9 - Comparisons

16.1Grade 9 - Comparisons

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