Langston Hughes father name was not James Nathaniel Hughes. They had a good relationship when the … son was small; but now, as years have passed, the distance between them has grown. He then proceeds to describe the stair of her life. The storyboard below provides an example. In that one instant, Barbara Allan realizes the cold, impersonal nature of the world, which carries out the course of life and death regardless of whether she feels it is right or not. The poem is grounded in the memories and experiences of a mother.
The staircase is also a metaphor for the struggles people face in their upward journey of life. On the road of life, many trials arise that one must overcome to make his or her life feel complete. Karen Clark has been writing professionally since 2001. The metaphor compares the life of the mother to a crystal staircase. It is not until she is on her way home and hears the dead-bell ringing that she suddenly becomes aware of the seriousness of death. Theme: The poem has been written in the early 20th century when the African Americans were under oppression and racial injustice.
She wants him to be tenacious like herself. Kamala Das writes the entire poem in a single sentence that is punctuated to show the beginning of a new train of thought. Tacks are nails and splinters are small fragments of wood which make it hard for the person to step. This poem Its about a mother speaking to her sons about life and how difficult it can be to make dreams come true. This emotional book looks at both sides of a young white woman's murder in a black township in South Africa. She tells him not to be disappointed when he faces difficulties and not to settle down with it.
Hughes uses extended metaphor to establish this view. She always pushed through every difficulty life gave her and that is the advice that she can give to her son. It is a monologue by the mother where she tells her son that life has never been easy for her. What the mother in the poem tries to tell her son is that there will be many rough roads that he has to go by in his life but she hopes that he will not give and complete it like his mother. Help me to shatter this darkness, To smash this night, To break this shadow Into a thousand lights of sun, Into a thousand whirling dreams Of sun! Structural Analysis of Mother to Son: This is a short free verse poem containing twenty lines, which are without any regular rhythm or formal rhyme scheme.
It is also the demonstration of the a mother has for her son. For the setting of the poem, she is driving her mother to the airport and at the start of the journey she turns and looks at her mother who has dozed of and thinks to herself th … at her face is so blue and lifeless and fears that one day her mother will really be lifeless. I know whose love would follow me still, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! The upward journey refers to the journey to heaven or to a better place where one is free of all the pain and suffering. This moving poem empowers not only the son but also the reader with precious words of wisdom. She has walked in bare places and in the dark.
She has, however, made her way. Imagery and symbolism also plays a huge role in the initial impact of the poem. While it captures the inspiring perseverance of an aging mother, it also hints at the struggles inherent in an unequal society. With this line, Hughes quickly establishes for the reader that the speaker in the poem has not had an easy life. Theme Relating To Life Langston Hughes uses many different techniques including mood, poetic devices, syntax, etc. There is deep silence between them. If I were damned of body and soul, I know whose prayers would make me whole, Mother o' mine, O mother o' mine! Allegory is a device in which characters or analogies represent or symbolize other ideas or concepts.
The details of the staircase are the life in which the. He doesn't want to wait for freedom; he wants to fight for freedom and make a change. The tacks symbolize the deep wounds, probably not fatal but still shattering and painful events, the splinters symbolize shallow wounds that are not deep but are very sensitive and always stay in the center of attention and the torn up boards represent heart breaking and life changing events in the mother's life. Therefore, Langston Hughes felt compelled to speak his mind for equality and his birthright freedom via poetry. If this is the case, their relationship is quite evenly balanced, a case of opposites - like the rose and brier - attracting, and not the tragedy that it might at first seem. Nonetheless, they end up bound together in a knot. Freedom and equality summarize the entire poem, for that is what Hughes wanted at the time - basic entitlement for one and for all.
In reality, democracy was profoundly one-sided, for blacks were not allowed to be involved with any decision making, etc. All these made the mother more real in a real life. The father says that he would like his son to come back to him. He was born in Missouri in 1902 and published his first poem in High school. Although his son is very much similar to him, they do not share any common passion.
And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, Between me and my dream. The allegory holds great importance and effectiveness towards the poem The use of the device enhances the symbolic meaning of the poem to real life. Their thoughts don't match and there is no sign of understanding in the air. The mother also tells her son to not be misled or lose hope. It's had tacks in it and splinters, and boards torn up. They both long to be together, but it is difficult for them to accept their differences and live with each other in harmony.