GCSE (9-1): Literature: Poetry: AQA Love and Relationships: Before You Were Mine: Theme

summary of the poem

This poem celebrates the poet's mother in an unusual way, reflecting on the life her mother had before she became a mother

predeterminedness

where the outcome or course of events are determined in advance by divine will or fate; predestined

central theme of the poem

This poem can be seen as a meditation on the predeterminedness of women's lives

strong family bonds

I knew you would dance like that' - suggests the strong bond between them

rebelion

Fun and enjoyment turns to rebellion in the second stanza, where the speaker talks about 'the right walk home', 'a hiding for the late one' and the fact that 'You reckon it's worth it'.

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Mother, Any Distance' by Simon Armitage

independence, strong family bonds and getting older

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Follower' by Seamus Heaney

strong family bonds, admiration, desire and longing, getting older and memories

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Walking Away' by C.D. Lewis

independence, strong family bonds, getting older and memories

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Eden Rock' by Charles Causley

strong family bonds and memories

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Letters From Yorkshire' by Maura Dooley

strong family bonds, admiration, and desire and longing

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Singh Song!' by Daljit Nagra

strong family bonds, admiration, rebelion, and desire and longing

shared themes between 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Climbing my Grandfather' by Andrew Waterhouse

strong family bonds, admiration, and getting older

imagination

this poem uses a memory, perhaps a photograph, as a springboard to explore her mother's life at that time, imagining the life her mother leads, the conversations she may have had

relic definition

an object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historical interest

theme of relics definition in 'Before You Were Mine'

Poem explores the notion of "relics", objects from the past that create a trace of that moment and evoke that time when you look at them, like an archive of a sort, a collection of memories that serve to define her mother

the interwovenness of the past and the present

the past is always wound around the present, so that they can't really be separated and in the speaker's loved one, the love is always present, like a mystical force, even before they met - perhaps we can see Duffy as the present and her mother as the past, but they are, in fact, inseparable

the sacrificial nature of parental love

the poem can be seen in terms of the sacrificial nature of parental love because Duffy imagines her mother's life before motherhood - to Duffy, motherhood meant sacrificing liberty for the benefit of her daughter