carol ann duffy - before you were mine

polysyllabic language + simple sentence structure - “I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on”

reflects the child-like lens through which daughters view their mothers with admiration and see them as perfect

metaphor - “Marilyn”

comparing her mother to the legendary “it girl” of the 1950s who has connotations of fame, glamour and beauty

supernatural/ancient imagery - “ghost”

daughter finds it hard to believe how her mother used to be

perhaps her imagination creates a skewed perception of what her mother was like before

caesura - “Marilyn.”

puts her on a pedestal and singles her out to represent how her daughter strongly admires her

cyclical nature of structure

symbolic of mother and daughter’s unbreakable bond

women are trapped in a cycle of having freedom whilst they’re young and then being expected to drop it all to become a mother