"Before You Were Mine" is written in free poetry, with no set meter. The poem takes on a more conversational, intimate tone as a result of this. Remember that the speaker is addressing her poetry to her mother as if they were simply two friends remembering. They are not feeling hatred or resentment toward one another, just sharing memories.
The woman writing this poem is unknown, but has been speculated to be Mary Ann Clark based on internal evidence within the work itself. This evidence includes references to events that only would have taken place before she was born, such as when the woman talks about how her father used to take her fishing when she was a girl. It also includes details about her family life that only someone who had lived it would know, such as when she mentions how much money her father made by working on the railroad. Finally, there are certain words and phrases that only someone who was really close to her father could have used (such as when she refers to him as "daddy").
What do these facts mean? Since he worked on the railroad, it's possible that they were even related - after all, people did marry up north for many different reasons. However, since there is no other evidence of any kind of relationship between them, we can't say for sure that they were ever friends or relatives.
The title of the poem, Before You Were Mine, creates a fascinating contradiction in and of itself, since it looks to convey romantic love but, in reality, the poem is about a platonic relationship. Despite the fact that the narrator is reminiscing, she utilizes the present tense, giving the poem a ringing immediacy. Thus, the title not only suggests that there was a time when this relationship was not so, but also that it continues to the present day.
The poem is composed of four parts: introduction, stanzas 1-3, stanza 4, and conclusion. The introduction contains eight lines that set the stage by explaining what kind of relationship is being discussed here and how it came to be. It ends with a question mark indicating that more information is to follow.
Stanzas 1-3 consist of two quatrains followed by a single line containing both rhymes and end rhyme. These three stanzas tell us about a friendship that once existed between two people - one who has gone away to school while the other remains at home. It is clear from the beginning that they did not experience romantic love for each other, but rather a strong bond of loyalty and trust.
Stanza 4 begins with an octave that consists of eight iambic pentameters followed by a sestet that contains six lines divided into two pairs.
Compared to Carol Ann Duffy's Before You Were Mine, with * by Simon Armitage There are numerous parallels, but also significant differences, in Carol Ann Duffy's poetry Before You Were Mine and Simon Armitage's poem *. Both poems are about a mother's bond with her kid. In Duffy's case it is a daughter while in Armitage's it is a son. Also, in both cases there is a feeling of loss after the mother dies.
Beyond these similarities, there are also some differences between the two poems. For example, in Duffy's poem there is a focus on nature while in Armitage's there is none. Also, in Armitage's poem there is more of a sense of hope than despair like in Duffy's work. Finally, Armitage's poem is much shorter than Duffy's.
In conclusion, Before You Were Mine is a good representation of the difference between Carol Ann Duffy's poetry and Simon Armitage's prose. The poems are very similar, but there are still enough differences to make them unique works of art.
Dickinson's poems, like most lyric poetry, identify the speaker in the first person, "I." Dickinson informed a reader that the "I" in her poetry does not always refer to the poet: "When I identify myself, as the Representative of Verse, it does not imply me, but an assumed person" (L268).
Dickinson used the first person to convey the idea that her work was inspired by a higher power. She wrote in one letter, "My Work is done when my People are at Peace with God" (L237). In another letter, she said, "He gives me Thoughts, and I write them Down - He supplies Words, and I give those Out" (L238). By identifying herself with her verse, which others had also identified as being poetic, Dickinson was claiming that her work was sacred and should be treated as such.
There are several speakers in the poems, including Dickinson herself, various characters from history and literature, and even God. But regardless of who the "I" is, they all share common traits: love, anger, fear, hope, faith. These are the same emotions we experience, whether the speaker is Dickinson, King Charles II, or Jesus Christ himself. It is because of this shared humanity that Dickinson's work has been considered important to the development of modern poetry.
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