Comapare how relationships are presented in Before you were mine and Anne Hathaway by Carol Ann Duffy - Essay Example

In short she tried to cover some of very heart-touching narrations in her writings. The element of love and memory is the trademark of her work. Carol received some of very outstanding awards in the honor of her services for the English literature. “Anne Hathaway:” “Anne Hathaway” is one of Carol’s famous works. As the title suggests, the poem is about Shakespeare’s wife Anne. When Shakespeare died, he left their ‘second best bed,’ not the best one, for his wife. People started suspecting over the love between the Shakespeare and his wife.

This poem is clearly shows the love evidence between Anne Hathaway and Shakespeare. People consider him as the greatest writer, but in this poem Carol Ann Duffy successfully discussed his wife Hathaway, who was also talented. In this way, the poem talks about love, sex and writing as well. This poem is the monument of the love and respect between the husband and wife. “Before You Were Mine:” Contradicting with the title of the poem, it is, basically, about the love and the life of a mother and daughter.

In this poem, the poetess narrates the life of her mother before her birth. Either she was possessive of her mother or she was keen about the past life of her mother, she keeps on searching the last decade of her mother’s life. This poem offers a wonderful idea to its reader by describing scenes and the feeling of a daughter by looking at her mother when the daughter was not even born. Showing cheerful pieces of the memory of the poetess, this poem is an excellent work by Carol Ann Duffy. Methodological Framework: In this study, we will look deeply into the theme of relationships in these two well-written and well narrated poems.

Both the poems are by the same poetess who loves the theme of love and relationships. In these narrations, she finely manipulated and fabricated the effects of love and memory in the lines of the poem. We will compare how she presented relationships in them and what were the intentions of the poetess behind the theme of relationship. Discussion: In the poem “Before You Were Mine,” Duffy explores the different happenings that beautifully plot the relationship between her mother and herself.

These things and happenings are not at all bad, and they are not towards any ill intention. In fact, they show affection and memory. In the first stanza of the poem, the poetess presents the image of her mother as a young and cheerful girl. She is so vigorous and beautiful. The period of her life was ten years before the birth of the poetess. I'm ten years away from the corner you laugh on, with your pals (Duffy, L.1) In the scene the mother is shown wearing a dot polka dress, which was fashionable in the era of the 50s.

She is laughing with her friends, and the situation shown is so carefree and full of fun: They “shriek at the pavement” and seem to be sharing a joke, young and lightsome (Duffy, 1993. L 4) The poetess, in deep love with her mother, loves imagining her mother as a happy and life-loving woman. Some claims that the poem shows irony, guilt and regret in this scene. The critics say that the poetess feels guilty of her birth because before her birth her mother was very much social and carefree.

In the other stanza, she creates a picture of her mother in a ballroom. The period is the same of single-hood of the mother without the poetess Duffy. She says that she does not exist in the poem not even in her mind. The chances of meeting someone at the ball were bright with her mother: In the ballroom, with