Mother To Son Poem Analysis

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If I told you I’ve suffered a loss and was in agony and despair, would you understand? If I announced that I experienced a joyful occasion would you share in my happiness? As Marshall Rosenberg once said, “empathy gives you the ability to enjoy another person’s pain”, it’s the power to see the world through the eyes of others. In the poem Mother to Son by Langston Hugh, a mother reflects on her time of hardship when she passes down words of wisdom to her son. Her expressive and descriptive word choices allow me to see images that make it possible to capture her insightful voice, reassuring gestures, and encouraging facial expressions to be able to relate to her struggle. Although I don’t have a son or a brother, I can relate to this poem as …show more content…

She compares her journey in life to “crystal stairs” and by doing so she is able to use a powerful comparison that allow the reader to be able to relate to her difficult times. The mother tells her son that her path was rough and an eyesore at times with “splinters, and boards torn up,”. She reveals that at times she had to face the loneliness and fears of “sometimes goin' in the dark Where there ain't been no light.” The mother’s word choice allows me to connect with her as she exposes a time in her life where she felt emotions I’ve felt at one time or another. She lets her son know that she is durable and that her obstacles did not defeat her as she humbly states “I'se been a-climbin' on, And reachin' landin's, And turnin' corners,”. This passage speaks to me because I like the mother have overcome seasons of darkness and kept going when I just wanted to “set down on those steps”. I didn’t have to “walk a mile in her shoes”, to understand her battle because she brushes a clear image with her dialect, which allows me to identify with her

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