Mother To Son By Langston Hughes

Mother To Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor–
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on.
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard,
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.

Dare to analyse it:

I feel that the poet is encouraging her son not to give up in any difficulties he faces at different phases of life and also teaching her son that life is not easy. The poet who is the mother encourages her son to not give up easily can be seen from “And sometimes goin’ in the dark, Where there ain’t been no light. So boy don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps” Based on these lines we can see that the mother is depicting life as a flight of stairs , each time you move up one step , things get harder and tougher. She is trying to say that when life is tough, many obstacles ahead and there is no one to help you, you need to have that perseverance and determination to overcome the obstacles placed before you and not give it up.  She is also encouraging her son by telling him what she has been through, to motivate him and give him a good example to follow. Through the words that she used, we can also see that she is trying to tell her son that no matter how tough or difficult life may be in future there will be always a solution to it, he just needs to keep trying again each time he failed he needs to have that willpower to keep trying to find the solution. Hence, determination and courage is vital for one’s success.

Also, his mother telling his son that life is never easy can be seen from “ It’s had tacks in it , And splinters, And boards torn up , And places with no carpet floor – bare” From this , it tells us that life is never smooth sailing, it is filled with “tacks” which is used to illustrate the sharpness and discomfort that the challenged he faces at every stage he goes through . Also, the “splinters” used to illustrate the difficulties in overcoming every challenge. In addition , the constant repetition of p’s and t’s evident from “tacks” , “splinters”, “ torn” and many others render the reader breathless , imitating the exhaustive uphill climb of life . This further emphasizes that life is not easy as it is filled with different kind of challenges daily which sometimes are nerve-wrecking and tough which can make us mentally exhausted. Hence , life is not a smooth-sailing journey but a rough one with challenges ahead of us.

Now let's enjoy a video of a person reciting the poem with the tone(s)!