Analysis Of Edna St. Vincent Millay's 'The Courage That My Mother Had'

170 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on mother courage

In the poem The Courage That My Mother Had by Edna St. Vincent Millay, the speaker explains the admiration he/she had for his/her mother’s courage. The author integrates strong imagery in order to fully explain the message that the speaker is trying to get across to the reader. In the first stanza, the speaker describes his/her’s mother as a “Rock from [the] New England quarried,” and later uses the same idea of a rock to describe the courage his/her mother possesses. What can be understood from the repetition of the image of a rock, is that the mother figure is as strong as the courage inside her. Another way we can see that the speaker truly loves their mother’s courage, is the fact that although he/she received a golden brooch that had previously

Show More
Related

  • Lee Little Father

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speaker’s personal emotions emphasizes the poem’s theme since although his father is no longer with him in this world, the memory of his father will always live in his heart. Throughout the poem, Lee uses the sky, underground, and the heart to symbolize imagination, reality, and memory—emphasizing the poem’s theme of the remembrance of a loved one. Lee also uses repetition to convey the meaning of Little Father. The speaker repeatedly mentions “I buried my father…Since then…” This repetition displays the similarity in concepts, however the contrast in ideas. The first stanza focuses on the spiritual location of the speaker’s father, the second stanza focuses on the physical location of the father, and the third stanza focuses on the mental location of the speaker’s father. This allows the reader to understand and identify the shift in ideas between each stanza, and to connect these different ideas together—leading to the message of despite where the loved one is (spiritually or physically), they’ll always be in your heart. The usage of word choice also enables the reader to read in first person—the voice of the speaker. Reading in the voice of the speaker allows the reader to see in the perspective of the speaker and to connect with the speaker—understand

    Read More

  • Summary Of Joan Murray´s Essay Someone's Mother

    161 Words  | 1 Pages

    Joan Murray wrote the essay “Someone’s Mother,” she describes a time when her intuition encouraged her to assist a hitchhiker.

    Read More

  • Guilt and Regret in Gwendolyn Brooks' Poem The Mother

    280 Words  | 1 Pages

    Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "The mother" tells us about a mother who had many abortions. The speaker is addressing her children in explain to them why child could not have them. The internal conflict reveals that she regret killing her children or "small pups with a little or with no hair." The speaker tells what she will never do with her children that she killed. She will "never neglect", "beat", "silence", "buy with sweet", " scuffle off ghosts that come", "controlling your luscious sigh/ return for a snack", never hear them "giggled", "planned", and "cried." She also wishes she could see their "marriage", "aches", "stilted", play "games", and "deaths." She regrets even not giving them a "name" and "breaths." The mother knows that her decision will not let her forget by using the phrase "Abortions will not let you forget." The external conflict lets us know that she did not acted alone in her decision making. She mentions "believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate" and "whine that the crime was other than mine." The speaker is saying that her decision to have an abortion was not final yet but someone forced her into having it anyway. The external conflict is that she cannot forget the pain on the day of having the abortions. She mentions the "contracted" and "eased" that she felt having abortions.

    Read More

  • Heritage Linda Hogan Summary

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “Heritage”, written by Linda Hogan, tells the story of each trait she inherited and the lessons she learned from key members of her family. When analyzing poetry, there are many literary elements that the reader can observe. These elements can range from diction, syntax and rhyme schemes. In Hogan’s poem, there are three literary elements that stand out the most. These are figurative language, tone and diction. By using figurative language, Hogan can better communicate her ideas towards the audience. The use of tone allows the reader to understand the character’s feelings. Lastly, her choice of diction determines how the reader views the story. The author’s use of these three elements allows the audience to connect to the poem because

    Read More

  • Anne Sexton's Courage

    198 Words  | 1 Pages

    Anne Sexton utilizes imagery in her poem “Courage” to convey that courage grows in the significant moments of one’s life. The author applies imagery by describing “The child’s first step…The first time you rode a bike…the first spanking when your heart went on a journey all alone.” (Lines 2, 4, and 6-7). The vivid images that come to mind when reading these excerpts show the first moments that slowly begins to build one’s courage. These moments compile over time to aid a person when another symbolic or momentous occasion arises. Also, the author further utilizes imagery to strengthen the theme by describing the end of life “when death opens the back door… and [you] stride out.” (Lines 45 and 47). By creating the image of one of the most pivotal

    Read More

  • Wisdom Of Shelly Analysis

    265 Words  | 1 Pages

    The poem, Wisdom of Shelly, written by George Elliot Clarke, is describing an abusive and unsafe relationship from a child point of view. From my understanding it think the poem is describing how the father or husband was not in the mother and child’s life for a long period of time but tries to convince the family he changed with a couple of roses. In the picture, I included a field of roses, which I took from the line “bristlin’ with roses.” I was trying to capture the sense of the child’s point of view that even if you bring a million roses, it will not change you as a person. I added the rocks in the water because it brought down the mood of the picture to make it feel sadder because of the misty and dark colours. Next, I added the eye at

    Read More

  • Edna St. Vincent Millay's The Courage That My Mother Had

    2082 Words  | 5 Pages

    The great amount of respect and strong feeling of pleasure and wonder a child has for their mother's courage is very obvious throughout Edna St. Vincent Millay's, "The Courage That My Mother Had." (at the same time), the poem brings across feelings of betrayal. Millay's poem, through strong associations with (state where all things are equal) as strong words, such as "rock" and "(very hard rock)," guesses (based on what's known) the general theme of the poem and the amount of (title-related) courage the poem's mother possessed. The (person telling the story) uses (more than two, but not a lot of) different types of figurative language to create thoughts and feelings of love, hate, fear, etc. for the reader. Millay's use of (physical things

    Read More

  • Olds’ Effective Use of Linking Devices in The Elder Sister

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    When writing poetry, there are many descriptive methods an author may employ to communicate an idea or concept to their audience. One of the more effective methods that authors often use is linking devices, such as metaphors and similes. Throughout “The Elder Sister,” Olds uses linking devices effectively in many ways. An effective image Olds uses is that of “the pressure of Mother’s muscles on her brain,” (5) providing a link to the mother’s expectations for her children. She also uses images of water and fluidity to demonstrate the natural progression of a child into womanhood. Another image is that of the speaker’s elder sister as a metaphorical shield, the one who protected her from the mental strain inflicted by their mother.

    Read More

  • Journey As Depicted In Homer's The Odyssey

    549 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Courage” beautifully describes the journey of life, explaining that it doesn’t matter where the reader may end up in life, but what happens on the way there. It explains how “your courage will be shown in little ways” (Sexton, 1975, p. 671), which means that there are both great and little things that can be done during a journey to improve it. Another great thing about this poem is the use of real events that could happen and how the author includes them to state a point. The text describes how people would feel after being called “crybaby or poor or fatty or crazy” and that they were able to “drink their acid and concealed it” (Sexton, 1975, pg. 671), meaning that the reader was able to plow through that difficult time despite the

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between A Mother And Mother In Toni Morrison's Beloved

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    The relationship between a mother and a father, even when the couple had at least some certainty in their ability to stay together, was tenuous. For many, committing to one relationship after slavery required sifting through the baggage of their past lives. Many mothers had children from men long passed out of their lives, like Sethe, and had to look for a new man to support the family and act as a father figure. This was painful -- and risky. Sethe remarks on men that “They encouraged you to put some of your weight in their hands and soon as you felt how light and lovely that was, they studied your scars and tribulations, after which they did what he had done: ran her children out and tore up the house” (Morrison 13). For Sethe, this complaint

    Read More

  • Edna St. David Millay Analysis

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I, being born a woman and distressed/ By all the needs and notions of my kind/ Am urged by your propinquity to find/ Your person fair, and feel a certain zest/ To bear your body’s weight upon my breast.” Edna St. Vincent Millay was an openly-bisexual female poet in the 20th century who wrote about the female experience in regards to love and sex, which is evident in poems like “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed”, “Thursday” and “First Fig.” Edna St. Vincent Millay shows us how we can use tone to redefine the relationship between gender and power.

    Read More

  • Mother's Precious Character Analysis

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    The way a child is raised serves as a precedent in determining who the child will become once he or she is an adult. There are many children who have overcome unfortunate situations in their childhood and have become successful individuals despite the negative factors they have faced. Then again, there have also been many situations where a child is raised in an upscale community surrounded by successful people and have grown to make negative decisions leading to ineffectiveness in life.

    Read More

  • Mother To Son Comparison

    202 Words  | 1 Pages

    This poem and picture compare to in Langston Hughes poem “Mother to Son” because his mom tries to give hi everything she can. Even though she does not have much, she will try and give him the world. Also, in the picture the mother does not have anything but a tangled up mess in her hands, but she still gives it to her baby boy. The tangled up mess in the picture would be considered as her world. The poem and picture both address how the mothers’ worlds are made up rips, tears, and are full of struggles. “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”, as said by the mother in the poem. “And places with no carpet on the floor”. Everything the mother is saying in the poem (Mother to Son) has been shown in the picture by WAK. They still thrive no matter

    Read More

  • A Mother’s Wisdom: Empowering Her Child To Persevere

    636 Words  | 2 Pages

    The mother in the poem represents the many generations of African Americans for whom opportunity was scarce for, have endured pain, who's had a troubled past and was given every reason to give up. Life for Africans “ain’t been no crystal stair” since the beginning of time. Since Slavery to present time they have just been pushing through in hope of upward mobility. Langston Hughes successfully acknowledges the mindset of those who have been through hardships and have found it easier to give up, yet still remained strong. “Mother to Son” teaches a valuable lesson for anyone who encounters struggles, reminding them to never give up. On the road of life, you will encounter trials and tribulations, however he teaches us that we can and will overcome such things for pain is temporary and there is a way out.

    Read More

  • Hagar's Redemption in The Stone Angel

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a series of illustrations, The Stone Angel is a story of a 90 year old woman, Hagar Shipley, struggling with life. Hagar Shipley is the most cynical old woman in human history, always torturing those around her. This woman is always pessimistic and looks on the bad sides of things and later realizes how being so gloomy-eyed she has withered into nothingness. By treating everyone so badly she has never made any friends and family does not want to be with her except for her sons Marvin and John who are biologically programmed to love her. In this passage from The Stone Angel, the theme of pride and the author’s symbolism help to develop the characters.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Edna St. Vincent Millay's 'The Courage That My Mother Had'

Open Document