TWIST on Mother to Son

I have a feeling that a lot of people will choose this poem because we all have encountered a similar situation to the poem in which our mom lectures us about how life hasn't be easy for her. Here we go.

TONE: the speaker's tone is simply described as serious. Initially, this is definitely seen in the repetition and language used to describe the mother;s journey. "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair" the mother says to her son. Her tone calls immediate attention to the way that the speaker is communicating. A shift occurs after line 7, where the mother begins to get to her main point, which is to never give up. This is where the tone begins to be inspiring in addition to serious. "So boy, don't you turn back" is the most evident use of the inspiring side of the poem.

WORD CHOICE: The speaker uses language to determine exactly how the reader should interpret the poem. For example, "it had tacks in it, and splinters" implies that her journey has been more than just difficult, but also painful. Tacks and splinters are both thinks that we associate with sharp pain, so it can be inferred that the pain the mother has gone through is sudden and painful, yet superficial. This conveys to the son and the reader the mother's resilience.

IMAGERY: The while poem is a metaphor. The staircase that is being described is the mother's life. The "crystal staircase" represents a life of luxury and ease, which we can safely assume are things that our speaker does not and has never held. The speaker once states that her staircase involved "turning corners" which stands for changes in her life where she likely had to make fast and important decisions.

STYLE: The lines in this poem are short, and are divided by breaks in the speaker's thoughts, but that come together in the end to promote a central theme. It's hard to point out a certain point in the poem that demonstrates this. One other thing worth mentioning is that there is no rhyme, which contributes to the seriousness of the poem.

THEME: The central theme of the poem is to never give up on life, because there have been much worse things that other people have lived through.

My connection with this poem is that my mom says this kind of thing to be all the time. It's stereotypical mom, but it's also for a good reason. The best way I can sum up how I feel about these types of conversations is the quote "A smart man learns from his mistakes, A wise man learns from others' mistakes"