Mother to Son by Langston Hughes - Literature review Example

The title of the poem gives one the impression that the poem is going to be a message that is being passed on from a mother to her son. The title also indicates that the communication is mainly going to come from the mother and will be directed to the son with little or no response expected from the son. The poem conveys the world view of the mother which includes the difficulties that one is to expect in life. The reality of the hardships that are to be expected in life is given to the son through the use of the staircase as a metaphor.

The poem is rich in the use of figurative language which includes the use of metaphors. The main metaphor in the poem is the staircase. At the beginning of the poem, the mother tells the son "Well, son, I'll tell you:/ life ain't been no crystal stair.It's had tacks in it,And splinters,And boards torn up (Lines 1-5). This is representative of the hardships and obstacles that the mother wishes to warn the son that he will encounter in his life’s journey. These are the hardships that she has experienced in her life’s journey and that she expects that her son will experience as well.

There are various lines that indicate the hardships that the mother has gone through such as / And splinters,/ And boards torn up,/ And places with no carpet on the floor-"(Lines 3-6). The mother uses the staircase to advice the son on the various stages of life, and he also uses the metaphor of the staircase to advice the son not to give up in life. The poem is told from the mother’s point of view, and the dramatic monologue that is as a result of this point of view helps to establish the mother as the speaker with the son being the listener.

The mother says that life to her hasn’t been a ‘crystal stair.’ A crystal stair would indicate clarity, consistency, and perfection of life. The mother makes it clear thus that she has not had the luxury of such things in life. The poem is also rich in the use of symbols as can be seen in different objects that are mentioned in the poem. Objects such as splinters and tacks are used to indicate the discomfort and the pain that the son is to expect in his life’s journey.

These are the obstacles that the mother seeks to warn him may discourage him and that he must seek to overcome. The fact that these symbols are repeated in various instances in the poem serves to emphasize their importance. The poem makes use of informal diction with words such as ‘aint’ and phrases such as ‘been no crystal stair’. This informal diction has traditionally been common among the African American population that provided the subject for most of Hughes’ poetry.

One can, therefore, conclude that the poem is said from an uneducated but wise black mother to her son. The poem does not reveal a particular rhythm but when recited it has a beat that corresponds to the stairway metaphor that is used in that the delivery of the message keeps building in a way similar to ascending a staircase. The mother’s attitude of determination is revealed through the advice that she gives to the son. She is determined and wants the same determination for her son. She reveals to him that life hasn’t been kind to her, but she has kept struggling and would want the son to do the same.

Her tone throughout the poem remains loving yet firm in passing advice to the In the middle of the poem, the word ‘bare’ is found forming a line on its own.