Mother to Son Project 1 (comp 2) , Rough Draft

For project 1, I had to pick one poem and basically break it down. I picked the The “Mother to Son” poem. This poem was written in free verse and written by Langston Hughes. I love how it's based on a mother giving her son advice based on her struggles. This poem is very simple but tells us about her whole life and the time they're living in. (I didn't integrate my sources well and so I have to go back and make some changes.)

Loving advice from “Mother to Son”         

This motivational and heart-warming poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, this poem portrays the struggle, love, and motivation of a mother to help her son to keep going through the difficulties of life. Hughes creates a complex relationship between a mother and a son in order to demonstrate a strong mother giving her son words of advice regarding life and its challenges.   

 Mother to Son was written in 1922 and was first published in the crisis magazine dedicated to promoting civil rights in the United States and was later collected in Hughes’s first book The Weary Blues (1926). Mother to son is a dramatic monologue about getting through American racism. The speaker gives her son advice about how to improve his lot in a racist society through an extended metaphor about climbing a set of stairs. In other simpler words, a mother is telling her son that she has been where he is, and she knows the struggle and explains how her life wasn’t/isn't easy. She explains that her life was hard and compares it to a crystal stare. The stairs aren't meant to be taken literally rather, they're part of the extended metaphor for the unequal opportunities and challenges that blacks face in their lives. Where white people have an easier. She then goes on to say, “It's had tacks in it, and splinters and boards were torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor -- Bare.” (Hughes). This emphasizes how her life was a struggle. She basically tells us that her life has been like climbing on a dark, dangerous, poorly maintained staircase. The “crystal stair” is just the opposite of the staircase she’s had to use. Crystals are smooth, shiny, and beautiful; they suggest glamor, luxury, and ease. (Advanced) While she’s been struggling to climb up a treacherous and dingy set of stairs, other people have had an easy, even pleasant climb. The mother uses her life to motivate her son and teach him to not give up. She talks about how no matter how hard it got Shes “been a-climbin'” (Hughes) meaning she never gave up and fought to throw the hard times “turning corners” and sometimes “goin' in the dark” (Hughes). The main part of the Poem is that she's trying to get her son to work and never give up and stop “climbin” (Hughes). The poem describes the difficulties that African Americans faced in the racist society at the time, showing the many obstacles and dangers that racism throws in their way—obstacles and dangers that white people didn't have to face. (Vechten) But the poem also argues that black people can overcome these difficulties through persistence, resilience, and mutual support.    

Everyone loved Langston Hughes's poems because they helped people get through tough times mainly the African American community. The poem seems to be from the mom's perspective making it first person. The Structure of Mother to Son is a free verse poem with no formal internal or external rhyme scheme. The only rhyme was between the second- and seventh line, crystal stair and bare. There were two forms of repetition in this poem. "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair" (Hughes), and “I'se still climbin’ (Hughes), and I've been a-climbin’on" (Hughes). The Dramatic monologues also don't have any set formal requirement and there’s no meter. 

The language of the poem is in an African American dialect. There are also examples of alliteration found in line 1 when Hughes repeats the L sound with the words, well, I’ll, and tell. This begins the poem on a lyrical note. The word and is repeated at the beginnings of lines 4, 5, and 6, as the mother emphasizes the hard things she faced in life. This literary device is called anaphora. 

To Sum up, everything that has been stated so far. The “Mother to Son” (Hughes) poem is a free verse poem written by Langston Hughes. I love how it's based on a mother giving her son advice based on her struggles. Hughes was important to the African American community because of the poem he created and how it helped people get through tough times.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited page.  

Advanced, Repressed, and Popular: Langston Hughes During the Cold War. By: Scott, Jonathan, College Literature, 00933139, Spring2006, Vol. 33, Issue 2 http://web.b.ebscohost.com.uaptc.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=10&sid=74742c34-a58f-4111-87a6-81b6ee64b1fe%40pdc-v-sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=trh&AN=20780997. Last accessed the second of February 2021. 

 

Hughes, Langston. “Mother to Son by Langston Hughes.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47559/mother-to-son. Last seen. 02/21/2002. 

 

Vechten, Carl Van. “Langston Hughes.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes. Last seen. 02/21/2002.