Before you were Mine

“ I’m ten years away”

Word Choice: ‘ten years’ suggests the distance in time between Duffy’s birth and her mother’s youth. Duffy is trying to fill the gap in time through her imagination to explore what her mother was like before

“Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff”

Specificity: suggests sense of importance of her mothers friends in her life by stating their full names

“ bend from the waist, holding each other, or your knees and shriek”

Word Choice: ‘holding’ suggests the closeness and support felt by the friends in their youth. This emphasises the fun-loving and carefree nature of her mothers youth

“ Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn”

Metaphor: Just as Marilyn Monroe was an icon of Hollywood cinema, this image suggests how Duffy sees her mother as a figure of glamour and beauty

“I’m not here yet.”

Short sentence: abruptly emphasising the poet’s absence still from her mothers life. She continues to image her mothers life before

“The thought of me doesn’t occur”

Symbolism: This represents how her mothers life was not yet focused on responsibilities of parenthood.

“fizzy, movie tomorrows”

Enjambment: emphasises the possibility her mothers life has. “movie” suggests her mother wanted typical Hollywood dream

“the right walk home could bring”

Word Choice: suggesting the possibility of romance and connection that were her mothers focus before the demand of parenthood

“I knew you would dance like that”

Direct Address: creates a satisfied tone as if Duffy is pleased with what she has imagined

“Before you were Mine”

Repetition of title: emphasises distance between the poet and her mother. She feels separate.

“and now your ghost clatters towards me over George Square”

Onomatopoeia: harsh noise interrupts nostalgia. Reference to high heels/ reference to how hard grief hits

“the decade ahead of my loud, possessive yell was the best one, eh?”

Rhetorical Question: seeking reassurance she didn’t cause her mother to become unhappy. Sense of guilt?