Gwendolyn Brooks Mother

Sharlet Cannon English 1302-56328 Professor T. Heflin August 9th, 2015 The Mother Abortion, a sensitive topic most people don’t want to talk about or try to figure out ways for it to be out-lawed. " The Mother," a poem written by Gwendolyn Brooks looks at abortion from a mothers’ point of view. This poem deals with the heartfelt emotions that a woman may go through after she has had an abortion. The theme, tone and figures of speech written displays overwhelming regret tormenting her mind.

The poem “Mother Who Gave Me Life”, written by Gwen Harwood explores the extremely personal relationship between a daughter and her mother. It focus’ on the universal role of women as mothers and nurturers throughout time. It explores the intimate moments and memories between a daughter and her mother, and gives us as the reader an insight into the relationship between the two.

"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.

At this point the poet uses symbolism substituting a flower for his mother. This is an appropriate symbol as, like his mother, a flower is feminine, delicate and

‘The Mother’ is an allusion to ‘The Soldier’, which glorifies war and the death of soldiers. ‘The Mother’ is the complete opposite, imparting the horrible realities of war, creating a very melancholy and sombre tone.

Brooks creates a horrific imagery that abortions are terrible; and in the poem “The Mother “,she mirrors herself to reality to show the missed opportunities of a child, that women who have aborted their children, will miss. In the poem, it pinpoints a woman’s experience of aborting a child, and then feeling guilty about it, as a mother. In contrast to the author of the poem, Gwendolyn Brooks is a woman who has also aborted a child numerous of times, feels relentless. She communicates with her audience, women, through the poem to recap what the unborn children would become in the future such as singers and workers. “You were born, you had body, you died. It is you never giggled or planned or cried.” When Brooks talk about the missed opportunities that women will never see, she refers to a mother with treacherous experiences. Symbolically, she reflects as a role model for all women who have undergone the situation.

Also in the book, the author is uses many literary devices. Some of these devices include: symbolism, motif, and irony. These devices are used to help the reader become more involved in the

The tone of hopelessness in this poem is very obviously the result of regret, or the feelings of what motherhood may have been. For a majority of the poem the mother focuses on what their lives would have been having “never giggled or planned or cried” (4) or how they “will never wind up the sucking thumb” (4). Although these are only a few examples it is very evident how the mother, although denied the joy of motherhood, longs for the child she almost had, saying, “believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you/ All” (5). In an attempt to take a more positive outlook on the mother tries to justify herself saying how much better the child’s life would be, that as a mother she would never have the chance to “neglect or beat/ Them…” (4). The story behind “the mother” is just one example of hopelessness that Brooks prominently saw throughout her community, obviously this feeling of regret and lament was prevalent throughout many women who, although chose to have abortions, were not done out of not wanting the child, but by force in order to keep a job, house, or some other commitment in which carrying and properly raising a child would be near impossible.

The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.

In a world in which abortion is considered either a woman's right or a sin against God, the poem "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks gives a voice to a mother lamenting her aborted children through three stanzas in which a warning is given to mothers, an admission of guilt is made, and an apology to the dead is given. The poet-speaker, the mother, as part of her memory addresses the children that she "got that [she] did not get" (2). The shift in voice from stanza to stanza allows Brooks to capture the grief associated with an abortion by not condemning her actions, nor excusing them; she merely grieves for what might have been. The narrator's longing and regret over the children she will never have is highlighted by the change in tone

Symbolism can be found in many places in this text, such as the moment when the boy tells his mother that she is “a fish in a cave”, meaning that she has become blinded by her unhappiness, to the point that she can no longer see that she’s unhappy. The story uses these symbolisms to show how something really is, in a way that is understandable rather than bland. If these symbolisms weren’t used we wouldn’t understand that his mother, like the fish, has been stricken blind, however she was blinded not by darkness, but

Judith Wright’s poem “Mother to Child” is about a woman’s emotions during the different stages of motherhood. It tells the audience that the bond between a mother and her child is very powerful and that it changes as the child grows. Wright shows us this through her use of imagery, symbolism and the structure of her poem. The use of those three elements of literature help communicate the love the woman has for her child and how their connection grows stronger as time goes on.

Gwendolyn Brooks was one of the many great writers. In her early poetry, Brooks attacked racial discrimination, praised African American heroes, and satirized booth blacks and whites. She showed great mastery of classic and Modernist poetic techniques.

Gwendolyn Brooks is best known for being the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize. When she was younger, she attended three high schools, including the integrated Hyde Park High School, the all-black Wendell Phillips Academy High School, and the integrated Englewood High School. She encountered racial prejudice at some of these schools, which increased her understanding of society in the United States and would later influence her writing.

“the mother” was written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945 who was born in topeka Kansas on June 7, 1917. “the mother” was published in her 1945 collection “A Street in Bronzeville”, in 1950 Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize.(bio) “the mother” is a great description of a mother going through a time of remembering her wrongs and pondering on what could have been. The poem “the mother” is a anti-abortion poem, it is a emotional outpour of the sense of guilt by a mother who has regrets, she speaks of mothers who have had abortions and how they will never forget. The title “the mother” is not capitalized so it makes it feel as if the writer is making the mother less important or not important at all.