The Poem ‘Mother To Son’ By Langston Hughes First Published

     In “The Road not Taken” Frost speaks of a time in his life where he had to make a choice, a choice of which direction his life was about to go: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both” (1-2). “Mother to Son” also speaks of life in a metaphorical way, but as a staircase rather than two paths: “Well, son, I’ll tell you / Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (1-2).

The analysis of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost has been up for debate since the poem release in 1916. It is known to be one of the most frequently misinterpreted poems of all time, and even Robert Frost himself has said the poem is “tricky” to comprehend (The). When analyzing this poem many readers tend to focus only on the last lines of the poem and get caught in a trap of selective-interpretation. Quite a few people after reading Robert Frost’s poem firmly conclude that this poem is about non-conformity and individualism, however, that is not the case. Robert Frost’s poem is meant to be analyzed line by line for a complete interpretation. Readers can conclude that the poem represents making choices in life, but that is not the

Throughout the poem, “Mother to Son,” the author further defends the theme by using figurative language. The poem is made up of metaphors such as, “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” The mother compares to life as a staircase, where those more fortunate have an easy, safe path in life. Whereas those less fortunate, like herself, have a rather difficult path, with many drawbacks and barriers. Hughes also uses repetition of many phrases to emphasize the importance of the overall message.

Robert Frost's poem “The Road Not Taken” describes a traveler faced with a choice of which one of two roads to travel. He knows not where either road might lead. In order to continue on his journey, he can pick only one road. He scrutinizes both roads for the possibilities of where they may take him in his travels. Frost's traveler realizes that regret is inevitable. Regardless of his choice, he knows that he will miss the experiences he might have encountered on the road not taken.

In the poem, Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes, the author highlights counsels a mother to her son, to be persistent, not to let discouraged by obstacles that arise in life, posing herself example, “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair…But all the time I’se been a-climin’ on.”, the image of a mother lovingly, wisely talking to her son about life.The language used by the mother shows that she was not an educated person and words such as “Tacks”, “splinters”, “boards torn up” suggests that life was not so easy for this woman. Obstacles of life are often very sharp, the challenges are difficult and painful, like a ladder with all kinds of defects, which is very difficult to be ascent. The way this mother describes her journey through this life, make the reader to understand that she is a black woman who had faced a lot of obstacles in her quest to move forward in life from the whites, “And sometimes goin’ in the dark, Where there ain’t been no light. So, boy, don’t you turn back.”

All through the poem, there are numerous uses of symbolism, particularly in the points of interest of the staircase, to evidently portray its actual importance. "It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up..." demonstrates the compelling subtle elements in the physical type of the staircase. The tacks symbolize the profound injuries, presumably not lethal but rather shattering and agonizing events, the splinters symbolize shallow injuries that are not profound but are extremely touchy and dependably stay in the focal point of consideration and the torn up boards speak to awful and groundbreaking events in the mother's life. Symbolism and imagery adds to the topic in light of the fact that it channels that pursuer's contemplations towards that topical diction which is determination to live through life without ever giving up even though there will be difficulties and challenges ahead of

In order to impact her son with knowledge she refers to her own struggles and success in life. Langston used a number of metaphors to describe the challenges of life. During this essay I will highlight metaphors that were used in order to create an image of the kind of struggles the mother faced in life. Langston Hughes describes a strong mother talking to her son in the poem "Mother to Son”. This poem outlines the ideal woman providing her son with words of advice about life and challenges that he will face.

Langston Hughes, an inspirational African American writer, in his poem “Mother to Son” (1922) insinuates that life is a series of challenges and difficulties. Hughes establishes this pronouncement by first depicting a metaphor with his comparison of life and a set of broken wooden or crystal stairs, expressing how the broken wooden stairs represents hardships and how crystal stairs portray a smoother life; second, by providing imagery of a boy sitting down on the steps of the stairs as the mother is scolding her son, exhibiting how the son has given up on the task in front of him while his mother is scolding him, displaying her motherly affection; and third, by using regionalism to indicate the difficulties of the mother and the son and how

The poet has used device of anaphora in that “And” is used at the beginning of many of the lines. In order to emphasize the idea that the mother’s life was not ideal and perfect like a crystal stair, a line is repeated twice: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” Enjambment is used throughout poem as, “And splinters,/ And boards torn up.” The language is unpretentious and

Every parent wants to see his or her child succeed in life. In Langston Hughes’ “Mother to son,” Hughes writes from the point of view of a mother giving advice to sons. She has had a difficult and hard life. In the poem, the mother uses metaphor to compare her life to a staircase. The mother has obviously been through a lot in her life and now she prepares her son by telling him that no matter what he cannot give up.

Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son,” talks about the struggles of a mother trying to achieve a better life. This story fits the theme of decision in several ways. Firstly, the mother tells the son how her life hasn't been simple for her not only because of the social inequality of being a woman during the time but also the racial discrimination of being a black person. She uses stairs to symbolize the journey to a better life. How life for her “ain’t been no crystal stair.” She didn’t choose to live a difficult life… Secondly, she talks about the challenges she goes through trying to achieve a better life. The dark times she has gone through. She describes her path as stairs with tacks and splinters instead of a “crystal stair.” She chose

I believe that this poem is important because this mother lays life out for her son instead of making him believe that life is a ray of sunshine. It pretty much starts out with “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” in line two. The “crystal stair” is the way people look at you. During this time period, it was not uncommon that people looked you up and down for the way you dressed, or your common lifestyle. It is sad to say that still today we treat one another just the same. In the world we live in I do not blame this mother for not wanting her son to grow up in a bubble of a life, to realize that

“Mother to Son”, a poem written by Langston Hughes writes about a life experience he had with his mother advising him to never give up on life even when it is not clear. Langston Hughes mother describes the challenges she faces in life using symbolism. She describes life as it has tacks, splinters, boards torn up; it is dark, unclear, hard, and an immense climb. She tells her son that life has not been “crystal stairs” and it never will be. However, she continues to keep climbing, reaching landings, turning corners, and persevering in the dark when there is no light, teaching her son to do the same. Langston learns from his mother that life is not fair or easy, but to always keep climbing even when it is tough. He also learned that never giving

At the beginning of the poem, Langston imitates his mother by saying that life for her has not been “no crystal stair case”. As you can see Langston started off using a metaphor to depict the message of the hard life that his mother had.

In lines 1 through 7 the speaker, Langston, talks about a mother describing her life to her son by using an extended metaphor. The mother first starts by saying; “Life for me [hasn’t]… been no crystal stair” (2); this means that from her experiences about her life wasn’t clear and didn’t come with an “instructions package.” The poet uses imagery to let the readers have a clear visual of his metaphor about life. The mother delineates that her life is a staircase that belongs to an old building; it has “tacks” (3) and “splinters” (4), which indicates that her life had obstacles that slowed her from reaching success. Success is when you overcome a certain problem and feel a rush of happiness that you were able to do it, and not give up. A symbol that the poet uses is “tacks” to