Hello everyone.

My name's Miss Keller and welcome to today's lesson.

In this session, we'll be analysing how Carol Ann Duffy uses language and structure in her poem, "Before You Were Mine." For this session, you will need a copy of your "AQA Love and Relationships poetry anthology." Okay, so by the end of today's lesson, we will be able to analyse how Duffy uses language and structure to convey the life-changing responsibilities of parenthood.

So let's have a look at today's keywords.

We have vignette, enjambment, caesura, ekphrastic poem, and consolation.

So what do these words mean? Well, a vignette is a short descriptive scene that captures a moment without any plot or action.

Enjambment is a continuation of a sentence or phrase across line breaks, maintaining flow.

Caesura is a pause or break within a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation.

And ekphrastic poem is a poem that describes or responds to an image or sculpture.

And finally, consolation is comfort or solace provided in a time of grief, disappointment, or distress.

So how is today's lesson going to look? Well, in order to analyse "Before You Were Mine," we are going to start off by considering Duffy's use of images.

And then afterwards, we're going to look at the poem's narrative structure.

So I'd like to start off by looking at this old photo.

So have a good look, and then, afterwards, I'd like you to discuss the following.

What does this photo tell us about the people in it? And what doesn't it tell us? So have a discussion with the people around you, or if you're working on your own, that's okay.

Just make a few notes on your paper or in your exercise book.

Pause the video while you have a think.

And when you're ready to feedback your responses, click play, and we'll carry on.

Welcome back.

Some really fantastic discussions taking place there to start off the lesson, and I really like how people are starting to think about this concept of an image because I think images are often things we take for granted.

So what can images tell us then? Well, images can tell us how people looked, what people are doing, and how the world has changed over time.

Because looking at this photo here, we can already infer using those three things that images tell us that we're looking perhaps at an old school picture because we have the way that the people are dressed, the fact that the two adults look a little bit like teachers, and the way the children are sat in rows, and that sign that the boy at the front is holding.

So what can't images tell us? What can't we learn from this picture? We can't learn how people feel.

We can't learn who these people are.

We can infer that the adults in this picture are teachers, but we don't know that for certain, and we can't know about people's attitudes or beliefs.

Again, if we know that a picture comes from a certain period in history, we might be able to infer what people's attitudes or beliefs are, but we can't know that.

And finally, in particular with this picture, we can't know what colour things were, and we can't see hidden details.

For example, we've no way of knowing what room exists behind those windows at the back of the picture.

We can only infer.

And that's the important thing to remember about images, is that we have this finite frame.

We have edges to what we can see.

For example, we don't know who took the picture.

We don't know if there were any people stood just slightly out of the edges of that photograph.

All we have is what is contained within that square.

So let's have a think then about how Duffy uses images in "Before You Were Mine." This poem is an example of what is called an ekphrastic poem, and that means a poem that describes or responds to an image or sculpture.

Duffy actually based this poem on a series of images taken of her mother as a young woman, and she often explores family relationships in her poetry.

For example, her poem premonitions explores her feelings about her mother's death, and another of her poem's, "Empty Nest," reflects on her relationship with her own daughter.

So how are images important to this poem? Well, I'd like to track through the structure of the text and explore how images are relevant in each part of the poem.

So let's start with stanza one, which begins with a vignette, one of those key words from our lesson today, which means a short descriptive scene that captures a moment without any plot or action.

So I'd like you to think really carefully about this vignette, and decide which keywords in the stanza help us to picture the scene clearly.

So pause the video while you have a think and discuss it with the people around you or make some notes.

And when you are ready to continue, click play.

Okay, welcome back.

Again, some absolutely fantastic discussions taking place there, and I could already hear people picking those key words and phrases out of that first stanza.

So well done.

Let's just pick up then on some great ideas that I overheard.

So the first key words that people were picking out of the text were the word pals and the word shriek because it us that really clear image of the mother stood laughing with her friends, and we can almost hear that shriek.

They aren't just quietly giggling.

They are shrieking at the top of their lungs.

And the second important key word that stands out then is pavement, because that grounds our setting.

We know that Duffy's mother and her friends are located in an urban setting.

So we would expect to see houses, perhaps cars, perhaps a busy atmosphere.

And last of all, then that word polka dot used to describe what Duffy's mother is wearing in this image.

But polka dot is a very sensory description because it's a pattern that we can all imagine in our minds.

So using these keywords, we get a really clear image of that picture perhaps that Duffy based this first stanza on.

So let's have a look at stanza two.

Well stanza two uses imagery to emphasise the sense of awe and wonder the speaker feels when they think about their mother's glamorous youth.

So again, I would like to hand it over to you, which keywords in the second stanza help to create this sense of awe and wonder.

So pause video while you discuss this with the people around you or make your notes.

And when you're ready to feedback your responses, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

So well done if you also picked up on this idea of the ballroom.

We've got our setting shifted from that urban landscape to a glamorous ballroom.

So we're imagining a big, cavernous space.

We also had a link there to eyes, which could indicate perhaps the crowds, the number of people that are going out in this ballroom, but also could indicate the amount of attention the glamorous mother receives when she goes out to this ballroom, and that third word then, movie.

I don't know about you, but as soon as I read this word, I got that impression of old Hollywood glamour, glamorously dressed women in these exciting situations.

Last of all then, dance.

Straight away, we get a bit of action here.

We can see what the people are doing at this ballroom.

So all together, we've got this sense of awe and wonder.

We have our big, glamorous setting and our glamorous characters taking part in these glamorous dances.

And perhaps if this isn't something that our speaker's used to, just simply trying to imagine their mother in this world would fill them with a sense of wonder.

So on to stanzas three and four.

As the poem progresses, Duffy uses imagery to emphasise how the mother's life changed once she had children.

So we're seeing a shift from the excitement and the glamour that we get at the beginning of the poem towards perhaps a different mood or different experiences.

So let's look at how the poem shifts.

So I'd like you to have a look at stanzas three and four then, thinking really carefully about which key words emphasise the bond that the mother has with her child.

So pause the video while you have a think and then click play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, again, some absolutely fantastic discussions taking place there.

And I particularly liked the idea that people were discussing these relics, the mother's old dancing shoes, that when we hear this description of them in stanza three are actually being described as something that the daughter now plays with, which very much suggests that the mother's dancing days are a thing of the past.

We also had this image as well in stanza three of the mother like a ghost, perhaps the woman that Duffy's mother once was has now faded.

And then in stanza four, interestingly, we start to see a shift towards a more hopeful image.

And we see this because Duffy quite cleverly repeats or echoes some of her earlier ideas in that last stanza.

So we see this idea that she's dancing again, that she does the cha cha cha, except this time, instead of dancing in a ballroom, she is doing it on her way home from church with her daughter.

And last of all, we've got that repeated link again to that urban setting, the pavement.

So I'd like to pause here and check our understanding so far.

Which of the statements below are true? So take some time to have a good read of the statements and make your mind up.

And when you think you've chosen, click play, and I'll reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back.

And well done to those of you who said A and D.

"Before You Were Mine" is an example of an ekphrastic poem because it's based on those images of Duffy's mother.

And the poem begins with a vignette showing her mother's youth when she is laughing with her friends.

I wonder if any of you chose option C, the poem is autobiographical.

There's a slight catch with that answer because it is semi autobiographical since many of the scenes take place before Duffy was born.

Okay, so now it's time for our first practise task of today's lesson.

I'd like to get your opinions.

So which do you think is the most powerful image in this poem? And I've put a few of the important images from the poem there along the bottom, but you don't have to choose one of those.

You can choose an entirely different one if you would like to.

So what I'd like you to do is to answer this question, including your opinions, some evidence from the text, analysis of writers' methods, and links to the writers' intentions.

So pause the video while you give this a really good go.

And then when you're ready to feedback your responses, click play, and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

Fantastic effort there.

I could see lots of people hard at work.

It's really important to start forming your own personal opinions and interpretations of the text because this is the foundation of your analysis writing.

So let's have a look at an example of what you could have written.

And remember that your response is a personal interpretation.

So don't worry if it isn't exactly the same as the answer you see here.

As long as you've done all those other things from the checklist, like including evidence and linking to the writer's intentions, and analysing those methods, it's likely that your answer will also be valid.

I think the image of the mother's going out shoes is the most powerful image in the poem.

The high heels symbolise the mother's glamorous youth, a time filled with parties, dancing, and the promise of happy endings like something from a movie.

Duffy introduces the shoes just after this scene and describes how the speaker thrusts her hands into them as a child.

This emphasises how life has changed for the mother since the arrival of her daughter.

The symbol of her mother's glamorous life is now no more than a play thing for her daughter.

The shoes are relics of her life before motherhood.

I think Duffy included this image as it is particularly poignant since it suggests that the dreams her mother had as a young woman haven't been realised.

And one thing I think that is particularly effective about this answer is the use of evidence.

We've actually got three different quotations there from different points in the poem.

So we're tracking this idea all the way through the text.

So before we move on, I would like you to check your work, and think really carefully about whether or not you've considered the writer's intentions.

And we've got an example of where this response did that, just at the bottom there in purple.

So pause the video while you check your response and redraft if you need to.

And when you're ready to continue, click play.

Okay, so we have made it to the halfway point of today's lesson.

So in the second half of the lesson, we are going to explore the poems narrative structure.

And in particular, we're going to think about the emotional journey that we go on as we read this poem.

So a visual of the emotional progression of the poem might look a little something like this.

So we perhaps start off in quite high spirits.

We have that dip in the middle there, but a little hint towards a message of hope at the end.

So let's have a look at how this journey translates into the different stanzas.

So if we lay those stanzas over the top, we can see exactly the point in the poem where the mood starts to take that downturn and then where it rises back up at the end.

So let's explore how the text does this in a bit more detail.

So stanzas one and two, they start off in high spirits.

They describe happy and joyful memories.

In stanza one, we have got the mother with her pals.

We've got this idea that they are laughing, shrieking, which really emphasises this idea that they are free from any sort of self-consciousness.

They aren't worried who hears them.

They are having fun.

And then in that second paragraph, we have this shift from joy to perhaps excitement and glamour because we get the glamour of the ballroom and the rebellion that the mother shows when she's walking home late at night and she's worried that she's going to get in trouble with her own mother.

So these two things combined make this stanza quite exciting.

We perhaps wonder where the mother's life might go from here.

And we can see that in some of the quotations such as movie, which gives us that idea perhaps of old Hollywood glamour and also this idea that the mother is willing to risk getting in trouble with her mother.

She thinks it's worth it.

So then in stanzas three, we see the mood begin to drop.

And arguably, in line 11, the speakers yell, signifies a shift in the mood.

We have this loud noise that comes from the speaker that almost interrupts or shatters those exciting memories.

And after that, the young woman is gone.

And all the descriptions that we get of her from that point are linked to the past.

We get this idea that she's now a ghost, and that her going out shoes are now relics.

They're objects from history.

And then onto the final stanza then.

We do feel a sense of hope and the mood lifts a little bit.

And arguably, a lot of this comes from the echoes that this stanza has to those first two stanzas because they suggest that the woman feels this joy, and happiness, and excitement again, only this time as a mother, instead of as a young woman.

So we get this impression that she's fondly remembered as winking, which links to that idea of her laughing at the beginning.

And also that word cha cha cha, because we are getting this image of the mother who's still dancing after all this time, except her dancing just looks a little bit different these days.

She swapped out the ballroom for teaching her daughter how to dance on the way home from church.

So let's just explore these last two stanzas in a bit more detail, thinking about how that mood drops, and then lifts back up again.

So our Oak students are discussing the emotional journey of the poem, and I'd like you to think carefully about which of them you most agree with.

So we have Jun who says, "The end of the poem is bittersweet.

The maternal bond is a consolation for the mother's loss of her youth." And we have Aisha who says, "The scenes of youth are happy and exciting, whereas the scenes of motherhood are sad and bleak." And finally, we have Laura who says, "The poem has happy moments, but there is an underlying sadness woven throughout." So pause the video here while you discuss this or make some notes.

And when you've made your mind up who you most agree with, click play and we'll continue.

Okay, welcome back.

I was particularly impressed with the discussions that I overheard here because we didn't all agree, and that's the nature of debate.

If you don't all agree in the first place, it actually encourages us to develop our ideas, given reasons and questioning the responses of others.

So that was really fantastic.

So let's have a look then at stanzas three and four in a bit more detail.

Ask yourself at the end, do you still agree with the same student, or have your opinions changed? So stanzas three then.

Line 11 can be viewed as a volta.

The mood shifts from joy to sadness to loss.

We have that trigger line where everything changes.

And line 11 is approximately halfway through the poem.

So we get this idea that it is a volta.

We also see how this line and how this stanza symbolises how the woman lost her independence and she now belongs to her child.

And finally, after this, we see her fade into the past.

So I'd like to throw it over to you then.

Can you find some supporting evidence to answer each of those questions there on the right? So pause the video while you have a good look at stanza three, and click play, and we'll feedback some responses.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's have a look then at some evidence that we could have found from stanza three.

So that first bullet point then.

Which word in line 11 signifies this shift, signifies that we're getting a volta? Well, you could have chosen yell because we've got that loud noise that interrupts and shatters those joyful images from earlier on in the poem.

And the second one then.

We get this idea that this stanza symbolises how the woman loses her independence and now belongs to her child.

So which word in this stanza gives us that impression? You could have selected possessive.

The description here of how the speaker is possessive suggests that they view their mother as belonging to them.

This links onto that idea that I think perhaps we may all be guilty of once or twice in our life, but forgetting that our parents or carers or caregivers are people outside of the role they play in supporting us.

And I think that's the impression that the speakers giving us here.

And it's also supported by the structure of line 11 as a rhetorical question, because that final word in the line almost gives it an accusatory tone almost as if the speaker's saying, "Oh, was your life better before I came along then?" We're getting that impression then.

Maybe the speaker's aware of that possessive nature and perhaps they might even feel some guilt that their arrival is what shifted or changed the mother's life so irreversibly.

And this last one then, she fades into the past after this point.

So which two nouns in this stanza could help us to infer this? And remember, nouns are people, places, objects, animals, or ideas.

So we could have selected the fact that she's described as a ghost and also that her glamorous dancing shoes are now described as relics because both of these nouns have those links to the past.

Okay, we're onto stanzas four then.

So how does the emotional journey shift even further in this last stanza.

We get this slight incline, this hopeful ending.

We don't end quite as negative as we were in stanza three.

And the way that this comes across is, first of all, in the way that Duffy echoes the woman's past life in this new one that we have described in stanza four.

However, the speak does attach some negative connotations to the new line.

So it's different and there are some joyful moments, but perhaps it's not perfect, which really emphasises the life-changing responsibility that motherhood is.

And finally, we get this impression that motherhood has drained the mother's beauty, confidence, and energy.

So it's almost sucking the life out of her.

So once more, over to you then to find some supporting evidence to answer these questions.

So pause the video while you have a good read of stanzas four.

And when you think you've selected your evidence, click play, and we'll feedback some responses.

Okay, welcome back.

So let's start with this first one then.

So which two things does Duffy contrast to suggest that her new life has these echoes of the past? Well, you could have said this contrast between cha cha cha and mass, because if we remember in stanza two we saw the mother dancing in a ballroom.

So now we've got this very, very different setting.

No longer is the mother's dancing part of glamorous nights out.

Instead, she is cha-cha-cha-ing with her daughter on the way home from church.

That is a real stark reminder of how different her life is.

Now she has children.

So this second one then, the speaker attaches negative connotations to the new life.

So which word in stanza four gives us this impression? Well, we've got this idea that the speaker implies she's dancing in the wrong place.

So although it is a fond memory that the speaker is being taught to dance by her mother, there is this implication that she's dancing in the wrong place and perhaps she belongs in these glamorous ballrooms, but, unfortunately, her life doesn't really allow for those experiences anymore.

And that final one there, motherhood drained her beauty, confidence, and energy.

So which three words could represent or symbolise those three things? Well, you could have chosen bold, glamorous, and sparkle because we got this idea that she was very outgoing, she was glamorous and pretty, and also that she perhaps had a sparkle in her eye, which could link to her zest for life, her energy that perhaps motherhood has drained from her.

So now we've tracked this emotional journey and we've thought really carefully about how motherhood has potentially changed the life of this woman is really important to consider whose opinions it is that we are hearing.

Because, actually, all of these descriptions are coming from the voice of the speaker, and all of these emotions are being described to us by the speaker.

So although she may imply that these are her mother's views, or opinions, or thoughts, they are still seen through the eyes of the speaker.

So it's a speaker's perhaps perspective on what they think their mother may think or feel.

But if we remember back to what we were saying at the beginning when we were looking at images, there's only so much we can be certain about when it comes to inferring somebody else's thoughts or feelings.

Just looking at images of them never gives us the full picture.

So I'd like you to have a brief discussion then, thinking about which of the following two interpretations you most agree with.

And it's worth pointing out at this point that both interpretations are valid.

It's just about which one you think is most compelling, based on the evidence you can find in the poem.

So we have Aisha who says, "The mother mourns the loss of the independence she had in her youth." And we have Laura who says, "The speaker feels guilty as her birth deprived her mother of her independence." So pause the video here while you make your mind up and click play when you're ready to continue, and we'll discuss it.

Welcome back.

It's always a good sign when we don't always agree because remember it helps us to expand and develop our ideas if we have to justify our reasoning.

So let's have a look, first of all, at Aisha's interpretation then, this idea that the mother is the one with these feelings, she mourns the loss of her independence.

So what evidence could we have chosen from the poem to back up that claim? Well, we could think about this idea that the speaker presents themselves negatively, as a noisy, bossy figure.

And we can see this in the description of them as possessive on line 11.

And also down in stanza four, this idea that the speaker wanted to meet this other version of their mother.

So although we know from these two descriptions that we are getting our speaker's perspective, we can possibly infer that if they've described themselves negatively, that they may have had the impression that that's how their mother viewed them, or this might be something that they worry about, perhaps that their mother had viewed them as somebody who had robbed them of their independence because, precisely because, of this possessive nature.

And let's have a look at the second interpretation then, that the speaker feels guilty as her birth deprived her mother.

So we've already got that idea starting to come out in Aisha's interpretation, but we could take that even further if we look at Duffy's use of caesura and enjambment, which gives the text a disorganised and childish feel.

So remember, caesura and enjambment are those two key keywords from today's lesson that are all to do with how ideas run over the ends of lines and how they pause perhaps in the middle of other lines.

It's all about where each idea starts and finishes.

And Duffy uses a lot of caesura and enjambment in this poem, which I would argue gives it this childish voice.

Almost like a child telling a story.

For example, we've got that word, Marilyn, which is actually in a single word sentence at the end of that first stanza.

It makes it sound like an interruption almost as our speaker has described this image of the wind blowing the mother's dress, it causes her to associate that image with Marilyn Monroe and the interrupt.

It's got a very spoken word feel to it.

And we've also got on lines 14 and 15, four embedded clauses that run on from one another, and go over these two lines, which again gives us this disorganised storytelling voice where as the speaker's telling the story, they're thinking of things to add in as they go along.

So now let's pause and check our understanding of Duffy's use of narrative structure.

So which word is missing from this sentence? Pause the video while you have a think.

And when you think you filled that gap, click play, and I'll reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back and well done to those of you who said a volta.

So now it's time to justify your answer.

So which word signifies this emotional shift? So pause again while you have a think and click play when you'd like me to reveal the correct answer.

Okay, welcome back, and well done if you correctly identified that that word was yell because it remember it interrupt or shatters those joyful images from earlier on in the poem.

So now it is time for the final practise task of today's lesson.

And what I would like you to do, is to complete each of these sentences.

And as you'll see by looking at them, each of the stems is exactly the same except for that conjunction at the end.

So we have Duffy creates a joyful mood in the opening stanza, and, but, and so.

So each of those conjunctions will take your sentence in a slightly different direction.

So once you've completed each of the sentences, what I'd then like you to do is zoom in on supporting evidence from the poem and justify your ideas.

So perhaps add another sentence or two to each one, finding that all-important supporting evidence, and justifying your ideas either through analysing Duffy's use of language or thinking about the writer's intentions.

There is also a vocabulary bank at the bottom there to help you out with some key words from today's lesson.

So pause the video or you give this a really good go.

And when you have completed those three sentences, click play and we'll feedback some responses.

Welcome back.

So here is an example of what you could have written.

So number one then, our and sentence.

Duffy creates a joyful mood in the opening stanza and implies that the mother's youth was a time of joy and freedom since the opening vignette portrays her and her friends together shrieking with laughter.

The comparison of her mother to Marilyn Monroe emphasises the beauty and admiration the speaker has for her mother in this moment.

Onto number two then.

Duffy creates a joyful mood in the opening stanza but this initial positivity only heightens the drop in the mood after the volta where the speaker's yell shatters this idealistic image of youth and independence.

This could symbolise how the arrival of a noisy, possessive baby has disrupted the mother's life, and this image of her as a carefree young woman that fades away like a ghost.

And then lastly, number three, Duffy creates a joyful mood in the opening stanza so we are able to view the mother's life as one filled with laughter and happy memories.

While Duffy contrasts this in the middle of the poem, using the relics of her mother's going out attire to symbolise how this life is a thing of the past.

The echoes in the final stanza to these earliest scenes of laughter and dancing could suggest that the mother has found some consolation for the loss of her youth in the maternal bond she's gained with her daughter.

Motherhood means she can no longer go out dancing, but instead she can show her daughter how to cha cha cha on the way home from church.

So take a moment to check your work and ask yourself how many words from that vocabulary bank did you use? And take a minute to underline them in your answer.

So you've got a reminder of those words from the vocabulary bank there.

So have a look.

How many did you use? And more importantly, can you find anywhere that you can redraft your answer to include any more of those words.

So pause the video here while you take some time to review your answer, and click play when you'd like to continue.

Okay, so we have made it to the end of today's lesson and a massive well done for all of your hard work today.

So let's just summarise what we covered in this session.

Duffy opens the poem with a vignette of a mother as glamorous and admirable in her youth before the speaker is born.

Duffy uses imagery to convey the sense of awe and wonder felt towards a parental figure.

Duffy uses a rhetorical question to suggest the guilt the speaker feels at curtailing the mother's glamorous life.

Duffy uses imagery to suggest the consolation a close maternal bond can bring to both mother and child.

And finally, Duffy uses enjambment and caesuras to convey the speaker's guilt about the effect she had on her mother's life.

So thank you very much for joining me, and I hope you enjoyed today's lesson.

I look forward to seeing you again soon.