Mother to Son

 

Mother to Son

APPRECIATION

‘ Mother to Son’ is a beautiful poem written by Langston Hughes. A mother says to her son that he would face many adversities in life and he must overcome it and keep going. Mother says to her son that life has never been as smooth and comfortable as a “crystal stair” for her.Her stair has always had splinters and torn boards on it, as well as places without carpet. The stair is bare –a life without luxuries and comforts. turning corners sometimes However, she still climbs on, reaching landings, turning corners sometimes going through darkness. She advises her son not to turn back or set down on the steps even if it is hard to climb.

The poem is a dramatic monologue written in the Free Verse style.

Poetic Devices used in this poem

Visual images: ‘tacks’, ‘splinters’ “torn-up boards, bare floor with no carpet symbolizing the hardships and poverty of life. Crystal stair: symbolizing comforts and luxuries of life.

Metaphor: The life of the mother is compared to a crystal stair to establish that her life has never been comfortable, luxurious or glamorous as a crystal stair.

Alliteration:  Alliteration is very sparingly used in ““Don’t you set down on the steps” with the sounds ‘d’ and ‘s’.

Questions

1. Who is the speaker in the poem? Do you feel the presence of a listener? How?

2. What does the expression ‘crystal stair’ stand for?

3. How was the mother’s life?

4. Comment on the style of writing and poetical devices used in these lines.

5. Comment on the language of the mother.

6. What do the expressions ‘reachin’ landin’s’, ‘turnin’ corners’ and ‘goin’ in the dark’signify?

7. What does the mother advise her son to do?

8. How does the mother encourage her son in facing hardships?

9. Point out examples of alliterations from these lines.

Answers

1. The speaker is a mother who is the representative of the black Afro-American community.

2. ‘Crystal stair’ stands for the comforts and luxuries of life.

3. The mother’s life had never been a crystal stair; it had tacks and splinters all the way. Her life had never been comfortable; it was full of hardships and obstacles.

4. The poem is in the style of ‘free verse’. It does not have a consistent meter pattern, rhyme

or any other musical pattern. The comparison of the mother’s life to a crystal stair is an example of the extended metaphor.

5. The language used in the poem is a deliberate attempt of the poet to depict the mother as an illiterate and poor woman of the Afro-American community.

6. The expression ‘reachin’ landin’s and ‘turnin’ corners’ signify the different phases of the mother’s life. Sometimes she finds some momentary solutions for her problems. The expression ‘goin’ in the dark’ signifies the hopeless moments of her life.

7. She advises her son not turn back when he faces an obstacle in the way, not to sit down when he finds it difficult to climb life’s stairs and not to fall down in his youthful days, for his mother is still climbing the difficult stairs of her life.

8. She encourages her son by telling her own experiences. She is still climbing the rough and tough stairs of life without yielding in front of the hardships of life.

9. In the line ‘Don’t you set down on the steps’ there is a repetition of the letters ‘d’ and ‘s’ and that makes ‘alliterations’.