Brothers Carol Ann Duffy

Objectives To explore family relationships in the poem To be able to comment on the use of language and structure effectively

Starter Do you have any siblings? Do you get along with them? What does the phrase, ‘you can choose your friends but you cannot choose your family’ actually mean?

Brothers Read the poem through twice as a class. Carol Ann Duffy is looking closely at the relationship between herself, her brothers and her mother.

Title What do we think about the word ‘brothers’? Does it have more than one meaning?

Structure The poem is broken down into four stanzas of four lines each. Is this significant in anyway to the poem?

Stanza 1 Instead of calling them brothers she calls them ‘these four men’. Why? What does ‘who share an older face’ mean? The poet can only connect with her brothers in one way; her past. Can you find any examples in this stanza?

Stanza 2 ‘What was possible retreats and shrinks’, what does this quotation tell us about hopes and dreams? The speaker does not remember much about her brothers, she boils them down to one thing. How does she remember them? Highlight the simile in line 8. What does this suggest about what the baby wanted?

Stanza 3 The repetition of ‘names’ shows the reader that she is trying to do what? Why does she love the names so much if she has never felt connected to her brothers? What word ‘broke her heart’ (her mothers)?

Stanza 4 How do lines 13 and 14 mirror lines 6 and 7? What does ‘but time owns us’ mean? ‘How tall they have grown’, who usually says this in a family? What does it tell us about her relationship with her brothers? Who is more responsible and how do you know? Look at the last line.

Task With your partner discuss what we learn about the speaker’s relationship with her brothers and her mother. Be prepared to justify your answers.