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
1.
2.
3.
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
1.
2.
3.
‘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
1.
2.
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
1.
2.
3.
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.