Mother To Son Poem Analysis

516 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Poems in the world of poetry that portray relationships

If I told you I’ve suffered a loss and was in agony and despair, would you understand? If I announced that I experienced a joyful occasion would you share in my happiness? As Marshall Rosenberg once said, “empathy gives you the ability to enjoy another person’s pain”, it’s the power to see the world through the eyes of others. In the poem Mother to Son by Langston Hugh, a mother reflects on her time of hardship when she passes down words of wisdom to her son. Her expressive and descriptive word choices allow me to see images that make it possible to capture her insightful voice, reassuring gestures, and encouraging facial expressions to be able to relate to her struggle. Although I don’t have a son or a brother, I can relate to this poem as …show more content…

She compares her journey in life to “crystal stairs” and by doing so she is able to use a powerful comparison that allow the reader to be able to relate to her difficult times. The mother tells her son that her path was rough and an eyesore at times with “splinters, and boards torn up,”. She reveals that at times she had to face the loneliness and fears of “sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light.” The mother’s word choice allows me to connect with her as she exposes a time in her life where she felt emotions I’ve felt at one time or another. She lets her son know that she is durable and that her obstacles did not defeat her as she humbly states “I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners,”. This passage speaks to me because I like the mother have overcome seasons of darkness and kept going when I just wanted to “set down on those steps”. I didn’t have to “walk a mile in her shoes”, to understand her battle because she brushes a clear image with her dialect, which allows me to identify with her

Show More
Related

  • How Does Langston Hughes Use Strength In Mother To Son

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    “So boy, don't you turn back./Don't you set down on the steps/'Cause you finds it's kinder hard./Don't you fall now --/For I'se still goin', honey,/I'se still climbin',/And life for me ain't been no crystal stair” (Line 14-20 Norton, 2028), is the loudest part of the poem. It speaks volumes on how she truly viewed her struggles. . The mother states “ I’se been a-climbin’ on” (Hughes & Rampersad Line 9, 60), which illustrates her dedication to becoming better. She lets it be known that her struggle is yet to be over, but she does not care how hard it will be, she is going to make it. She details the pain she endured: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair/

    Read More

  • My Son The Marine Poem Analysis

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    “My Son the Marine?” was written by John and Frank Schaeffer in 2002. This story was written in the 1st person. It focuses on the struggle a father is having about his son joining the military. “Separating” was written by John Updike in 1972 and is written in the 3rd person. It is about a family going through a divorce and focuses on the emotional toll towards the children during the separation. “Those Winter Sundays” was written in 1966 by Robert Hayden. Written in the 1st person, the focus of this poem is to show the regret of a young boy who never showed the appreciation that his father deserved. All of these stories appeal to “The things They Carry” because of the emotional aspect. In all these stories there are signs of guilt, confusion, and regret.

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes and His Poetry

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    These sets of lines express the frustrations of a mother who worked through a hard time, and is telling her son her story. She is telling her son this is the adversity she when through to become who she is today in spirit. ...

    Read More

  • Everyday Use by Alice Walker

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    The daughter alludes to an idea that her mother was also judged harshly and made to feel ashamed. By the daughters ability to see through her mothers flaws and recognize that she was as wounded as the child was, there is sense of freedom for both when the daughter find her true self. Line such as “your nightmare of weakness,” and I learned from you to define myself through your denials,” present the idea that the mother was never able to defeat those that held her captive or she denied her chance to break free. The daughter moments of personal epiphany is a victory with the mother because it breaks a chain of self-loathing or hatred. There is pride and love for the women they truly were and is to be celebrated for mother and daughter.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Poem And The Rose That Grew From Concrete

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, the author uses Figurative language to develop the theme by the mother uses a metaphor to describe her life and how difficult it was. It says, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters. And boards were torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor—Bare.“This shows the author use Figurative language to develop the theme of You have to rise above the obstacles because life is going to throw obstacles at you and you have to try to avoid them. This shows the theme because instead of going back down the staircase where there are no problems you have to push through to get over the problem. Second, the author uses Symbol to develop the theme by using the staircase that represents life and life is hard and there will be a ton of thing that try to push us down and just try to stop us It says, “ I’ve been a-climbing’ on, And reachin’ landings, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. “This shows the author used Symbol to develop the theme of You have to rise above the obstacles because the mother kept going non-stop. This is important to notice because there will be a ton of thing that try to push us down and just try to stop us. To, sum up, the author of “Mother to Son” revealed the theme through Figurative language and

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes: Write, Fight, And Persevere

    1420 Words  | 3 Pages

    She starts here with telling her son how hard life has been for her with the mentioning of the metaphor ‘crystal stair’, which is a reference of wealth and reaching the top.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sylvia Plath was known as an American Poet, Novelist and Shorty story writer. However, Plath lived a melancholic life. After Plath graduated from Smith College, Plath moved to Cambridge, England on a full scholarship. While Plath was Studying in England, she married Ted Hughes, an English poet. Shortly after, Plath returned to Massachusetts and began her first collection of poems, “Colossus”, which was published first in England and later the United States. Due to depression built up inside, Plath committed suicide leaving her family behind. Sylvia Plath was a gifted and troubled poet, known for the confessional style of her work, which is how “Mirror” came to be. Although this poem may seem like the reader is reading from first person point of view, there is a much deeper meaning behind Plath’s message throughout the poem. Plath uses several elements of terror and darkness to show change to the minds of the readers.

    Read More

  • The Hospital Window by James Dickey

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem focuses on the son’s feelings and thoughts as he is looking up at what he perceives to be his father’s hospital window. The second stanza concretes the literal foundation for the poem—the son is despondent about the gravity of the situation revolving around his father’s cond...

    Read More

  • Difference Between Empathy And Sympathy In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    ​Burton defines empathy as the ability to not only recognize but also to share another person’s or a fictional character’s or a sentient beings’ emotions. It involves seeing a person’s situation from his or her own perspective and then sharing his or her emotions and distress (1). Chismar posits that to empathize is basically to respond to another person’ perceived state of emotion by experiencing similar feelings. Empathy, therefore, implies sharing another person’s feeling without necessary showing any affection or desire to help. For one to empathize, he or she must at least care for, be interested in or concerned about

    Read More

  • Empathy In Fahrenheit 451

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empathy is used to create change in the world by reaching out to the emotions of people and attending to them. It is used to help others learn and decide on matters that would not be reasonable without feelings attached to them. Empathy helps bring together communities that would have long ago drifted apart, but instead welcomed all who were different. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This attribute of human-beings really allows us to not only attend to situations as if they were our own, but it allows us to feel most of what others feel because humans are very much alike in some ways. In many of the articles and novels that we have read this quarter, characters from different pieces of context have portrayed empathy whether it was toward

    Read More

  • The Reflection Of Empathy, By Stephen Dunn

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Empathy is imperative to teach kids from a young age in order to help them recognize mental states, such as thoughts and emotions, in themselves and others. Vital lessons, such as walking in another’s shoes or looking at a situation in their perspective, apprehends the significance of the feelings of another. Our point of view must continuously be altered, recognizing the emotions and background of the individual. We must not focus all of our attention on our self-interest. In the excerpt, Empathy, written by Stephen Dunn, we analyze the process of determining the sentiment of someone.

    Read More

  • Louise Erdich Indian Boarding School The Runaways

    1032 Words  | 3 Pages

    The poem contains the central idea that many of these children never understood what home really means. In Native American culture the people venerate earth and it is referred to as mother nature which we see in the poem. The rails cut right through their home but they don’t view them like the average person. They view the tracks as if they are scars across mother earths face and her face is the Native American’s homeland. She is scarred for eternity but she is perfect in their dreams. This symbolism is ironic because the children try to reach home using the railroad that ruined natural life for them and many other Native Americans. In the second stanza the speaker says “The worn-down welts of ancient punishments lead back and fourth” (15-16). Which can be talking about the marks on the children’s bodies after getting caught while running away. But the “word-down welts” can also symbolize the welts that were put on mother nature throughout history. The last five lines of the poem sums up the symbol of hope through their memories and dreams. The last line of the poem says, “the spines of names and leaves.” (20-24). The “spines” symbolize the physical strength of the children and their ability to maintain hope individually “names”, and for their tribe

    Read More

  • How Does Langston Hughes Use Poetic Devices In Mother To Son

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes’s “Mother to Son” was first published in Crisis magazine in 1922. In the poem, a hopeful mother warns her child that many trails will present themselves to him over the course of his life. The mother encourages her son that no matter what, he must triumph over the struggles and continue to press forward. She relates life’s rigorous journey to climbing a staircase. The mother explains how her life has not been easy, or in other words, “a staircase made of crystal” The life of the mother has been an endless struggle described as stairs with protuberant nails and fragments of wood sticking out, boards ripped up and spaces where carpet was omitted. Though she described her life as an almost unclimbable staircase, she kept moving onward. She wants her son to do as she has done and pull motivation from her severe situations and remain steady.

    Read More

  • Poem Analysis

    657 Words  | 2 Pages

    Helen of Troy, known as the most beautiful woman of ancient Greek culture, is the catalyst for the Trojan War. As such, she is the subject of both Edgar Allen Poe’s “To Helen” and H.D.’s “Helen”; however, their perceptions of Helen are opposites. Many poets and authors have written about Helen in regards to her beauty and her treacherous actions. There is a tremendous contrast between the views of Helen in both poems by Poe and Doolittle. The reader may ascertain the contrast in the speakers’ views of Helen through their incorporation of diction, imagery, and tone that help convey the meaning of the work.

    Read More

  • Woman Poem Analysis

    827 Words  | 2 Pages

    The three poets convey the feelings of seriousness, happiness, and failure. In the poem “Simile”, Scott Momaday explains how people and the actions we do are similar to animals in which the comparison was towards deer. In “Moon Rondeau” by Carl Sandburg he illustrates that working together in a relationship, you may be able to accomplish a task and generate a strong bond. In the final poem “Woman” by Nikki Giovanni she displays how one may want to grow and be someone special to your significant other but they may not care of what their other may want. The three poets are illustrating the theme of humans being similar to animals in which case they either work together or they just ignore each other within the literary similarities and differences of the three poems.

    Read More

More about Mother To Son Poem Analysis

Open Document