The poem “Advice to My Son written by Peter Meinke and “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes explores beauties and practicalities of life, they are very short poems but nonetheless very meaningful and powerful. Both speakers of the poems are parents who are passing on valuable advice to their children. The speaker in the poem “Mother to Son” tells her son some of the battles she’s gone threw in life. She’s giving her son the lesson that life isn’t always the easiest but to always keep going forward and to stay positive about life. On the other hand, the poem “Advice to my Son” is advising his son to balance the beauties of life and to be careful because it’s not always easy. In the world today, relationships are vital to get by the hardships the world gives us every day. One of the best relationships people will ever have is the relations with their parents. They might be unaware of it until they mature, but parent-child relations are always extraordinary. Communication, respect, and safety are very important for parent-child relationships. A parent should always tell their child to live life and have fun. In the poem, “Advice to My Son,” the author states, “but, son, always serves wine.” (Meinke 22). In this poem the father tells his son that life is short, and he should live it day by day, but always plan ahead. The most important thing he tells his son is to always have fun, no matter what he is doing. Also, a parent should know when it is time to let their child to soar and be more independent. On the other hand, the poem “Mother to Son” states “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (Hughes 2). She uses the staircase as a metaphor of her life journeys. As a result, her life hasn’t always been polished, gentle, or has it been effortless. Thus, she is telling her son life for him won’t always be ideal or steady. She states that her life “It’s had tacks in it, and splinters” (Hughes 3-4). She is representing the rough times in her life, including the misery and heartaches. Tacks and splinters she shows some of life her troubles that where short and long-term pains. Like the tacks, the pain might have stung for short period, but where quickly healed. The splinters represent wounds that took time to heal which
Imagine that your life started getting harder, harder, and you kept conquering the problems one by one. The poems “ Mother to Son” and “ The rose that grew from concrete” will show you how to rise above your challenges. The poem “Mother to Son” is about how you have to persevere to rise above your problems in life. And the poem “The rose that grew from concrete” is about how this rose came out of concrete showing us that anything is possible if you keep trying. The poems “ Mother to Son” and “ The rose that grew from concrete” both share the theme of rising above challenges but they do so in similar and different ways.
The only difference between the mom and dad and the child is that they grew up in different generations. Mom and dad's generation wore older style clothing because they were in an earlier generation than us. "Who half the time were soppy-stern (ll.7), and half at one another's throats." (ll.8) the parents of our parents were much stricter in punishments. They would get straight to the point and beat their kids if it was needed. Instead of talking to their children they would physically try to change them because that is how discipline was taught in generations before us. The parents would yell and scream at their children hoping that they change for the better when half the time screaming did not help the situation at all. "Man hands on misery to man (ll.9), it deepens like a coastal shelf" (ll.10) these lines are saying how a dad passes down his experience to his son. As the son gets older and older the dad teaches the son more and more about life and what to expect out of it and what can be done to make you a better person. It is similar to the ocean floor because the father keeps teaching the son more and more and it is like an endless cycle. "Get out as early as you can (ll.11), and don't have any kids yourself" (ll.12) Larkin is definitely trying to warn us not to have kids if we can't manage them. Larkin is saying that the only way to have children is
On the road of life, many trials arise that one must overcome to make his or her life feel complete. In Langston Hughes’s poem, “Mother to Son,” these trials are a subject of concern for one mother. Hughes’ “ability to project himself” is seen in his use of dialect, metaphors, and tone (Barksdale 3).
Many Americans did not know how and African American’s daily life went. Through Hughes’ writing he portrayed their lives to help show their desire and need for civil rights. In his poem, “Mother to Son”, a mother is talking to her son about how life is much harder for them, but that he must never give up, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair...Don’t you fall now- For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”(Lines 1, 17-20). Hughes has assumed the role of speaking for the black community and the way that they live. Rita Dove and Marilyn Nelson write in their work, “Langston Hughes and Harlem”, how Hughes gives other Americans a glimpse of their lives, “His work offers white readers a glimpse into the social and the personal lives of Black America;”(1152). Hughes uses the simple conversation between a mother and son to show the American people how much different and harder their lives
And the poem “Mother to Son” is about how a mother is telling her son that she had to go through rough times like her son.She says she also keeps going no matter how difficult life gets.Both poems share the theme of overcoming obstacles in life. Both authors use figurative language for example,Tupac uses a Rose and Langston Hughes uses stairs to compare them to how hard life can be to develop the theme.
The poems “Mother to Son”, by Langston Hughes, and “If”, by Rudyard Kipling, have many similarities and differences. From how similar some elements, such as the central idea, are almost identical to how different other parts of the poems are, such as the narrators, these poems have quite a few things in common as well as a few things that are quite different.
“Mother to Son” , by Langston Hughes is based on the view of hope and inspiration to continue moving forward in life, regardless of difficulties, and no matter how hard life may be. The speaker in this poem is a mother who gives advice to her son. Since the mother has overcame challenges in life, she encourages her son to be fearless, face challenges and succeed in life. He includes rhetorical devices such as, figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and sound devices to make the points of being fearless, to face challenges, and succeed in life.
In the poem, “Mother to Son” harlem renaissance Langston Hughes writes of a mother’s heartbreaking journey through a never ending cycle of life through the use of figurative language and complex structure. The reader is able to fully receive the message the author has provided.
In Hughes’ poem, “Mother to son,” a mother explains to her son how her life was never easy. She tells her son that even though she has come across many hardships, she kept on pushing. The mother advises her son to never turn back, no matter how hard the obstacle is to overcome because she hasn’t given up in her old age. This poem is a free verse written in the vernacular. “The Little Black Boy” by William Blake is about a black child telling the story of how he began to find himself and know God. He explains how his skin is black and his soul is white as that of an English child. His mother introduces him to God who lives in the East and gives light and life to all creation, and comfort and joy to men. The mother in this poem is a loving character who wants the best for her child. The little black boy passes on
On June 28, 2015, The Atlantic published an article on Ta-Nehisi Coates, acclaimed author, journalist, and socio-political activist, titled “Letter To Son”, in an effort to addresses how social injustice in America limits the opportunities of individuals based upon race, going against the so called “dream” in which the citizens were promised. Coates supports this claim by developing a sense of sympathy through his definition of what it means to be Black in America then references the harsh period of slavery and his own experiences being a Black citizen of the United States.
Every mother would like to see her child succeed in life. The following passage from the poem, "Mother to Son", by Langston Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son. She teaches him using her own life as an example; her life as a climb up a staircase. The imagery from the advice given in the stanza is explicit and poignant:
The speaker of the poem “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes is a mother who is giving advice to her son. Her life has been difficult and hard at times. As readers, we know this because the speaker talks about how life is a staircase and her staircase has had “tacks and splinters in it” (line 3-4). This means that her life has not been perfect and she had many challenges to deal with. Perhaps she was born into poverty, because the images in her poem reveal a ragged, old staircase, like you might find in a decrepit, old building. Further, the speaker’s accent reveals that the speaker was not well-educated when she was younger, such as when she says “I'se been a-climbin' on” (line 9) which is not proper English. Since
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.
Mother to Son is a poem that was written by Langston Hughes, and was published in 1922. Throughout this poem, Langston Hughes portrays a mother speaking to her son and the readers to bestow her knowledge, encouragement and wisdom from the life that she lived.
The poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes is the story of a mother speaking of life’s hardships to her son. The poem starts off with the protagonist’s haunting words about the difficulty of life; however, as the story goes on, her words of despair become words of wisdom to her son on never giving up. Hughes organizes this poem by transitioning the tone from hopelessness to encouragement to convey the raw message that although life can be hard, anyone can reach their goals with effort.