Preview

Mother To Son Figurative Language Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
234 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mother To Son Figurative Language Analysis
Langston Hughes is an astonishing poet who uses imagery, figurative language, and word choice to speak the mind of a black American. Some of his famous work include “I too sing America”, “Theme For English B, and “Mother to Son”. Using figurative language Langston provides metaphors and detailed representation of the equality this world needs, Imagery gives the reader a vivid experience through the eyes of Langston.

Throughout his poetry Langston utilizes experiences, and everyday visualizations to give the reader an accurate representation of what it would be like to live one of these poems. Examples of this can be found in “Mother To Son’ and “Theme for English B”. In Mother To Son, it is said that “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.”
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Comparing Langston Hughes And I Hear America Singing
    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page

    Comparing Langston Hughes And I Hear America Singing

    Often American authors imply what it is like to be an American in their poetry. Essentially, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman share similar thoughts in their literature. In “I, Too” and “I Hear America Singing”, the authors use textual evidence to support their opinions on America. In Walt Whitman’s poem, “I Hear America Singing”, Whitman explains how hard labor in America is music to him. Whitman says “I hear America singing, the varied carols i hear”, meaning how these jobs differentiate, but they all come together as one large working society. In comparison, Langston Hughes discusses society in his poem “I, Too”. Hughes wrote his literature in an era of time where racism and segregation was strong. Hughes states how he wasn’t allowed to…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks Of Rivers
    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Langston Hughes The Negro Speaks Of Rivers

    Langston Hughes was considered one of the principal and prominent voices of Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s and 1930s. His poetry encompasses heterogeneity of subject matters and motifs concerning working African-Americans who were excluded and deprived of power. His choice of theme was accentuated and manifested through the convergence of African-American vernacular and blues forms. My attempt is to analyze the implications of the most significant poems by first introducing the author, examining the relevance of the poems and then, contrast them with Richard Wright’s antagonistic perspective.…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Comparing Poems 'Let America Be America Again And Negro'
    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Comparing Poems 'Let America Be America Again And Negro'

    In the poems, “Let America Be America Again” and “Negro” by Langston Hughes, the voice of the narrator appear to be bold and pitiful. The tones of both poems are anger and bitterness from the minority groups in America towards the majority group. The themes of each poem vary in ways but they are also similar pertaining to the way that African Americans do not have equal opportunities in America just like the other minority groups living in America. In “Let America Be America Again”, Langston Hughes illustrates that America is not the land of the free like it is advertised. In “Negro”, Hughes also castigate America but from the point of the view of an African American.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Did Langston Hughes Contribute To The Harlem Renaissance
    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages

    How Did Langston Hughes Contribute To The Harlem Renaissance

    The Harlem Renaissance was a period in which African Americans prospered with great achievements. The process of these achievements involved variety and the will to be experimental. Langston Hughes was inspired by the efforts of these people and took their success into consideration when developing his own work. Hughes portrayed his message through “poetry, plays, essays, novels short stories, newspaper columns, magazine articles, and song lyrics” (Ed 2). The variety of Hughes’ compositions, just like many…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Review Of Langston Hughes 'Poem Let America Be America Again'
    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Review Of Langston Hughes 'Poem Let America Be America Again'

    Langston Hughes, a major African American writer, is committed to telling the truth about the lives of black people through his passionate poetry. For instance, in his poem “Let America be America Again”, Hughes, being less than sanguine, claims that in reality people who possesses power often deprive others of America’s – the land known of equality, liberty, and freedom opportunities. Not only have those in power deprived lower class American access to the opportunities promised by the America value system, they have replaced it with the relentless pursuit of money, sex, and power. Hughes successfully executed his claim to be true by contributing tone, connotation anaphora, abstract language and personification.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Whitman And Hughes Influence On America
    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Whitman And Hughes Influence On America

    Imagine a world where prejudice and racism filled the streets of the world. While this is not the world we live in today, it was a part of the world in the 20th century. People would have been treated differently based on how they look. They were yet still of apart of america. This was life for the speaker in the poem “I too sing america” by Langston Hughes. It spoke about the different hardships that african americans had coming to the US and being treated as property with no regard to your feelings. Langston Hughes cited Walt whitman as his greatest influence for his poems. Many people believe he wrote his poem “I too sing america in response to Whitman's “I hear america singing.” Whitman's poem talks about how each person contributes…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Langston Hughes
    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Langston Hughes

    The Harlem Renaissance was a huge cultural movement for the culture of African Americans. Embracing the various aspects of art, many sought to envision what linked black peoples’ relationship to their heritage and to each other. Langston Hughes was one of the many founders of such a cultural movement. Hughes was very unique when it came to his use of jazz rhythms and dialect in portraying the life of urban blacks through his poetry, stories, and plays. By examining 2 poems by Langston Hughes, this essay will demonstrate how he criticized racism in Harlem, New York.…

    • 1048 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Jamell Grimes 1

    • 1858 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Jamell Grimes 1

    Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, and novelist who also was the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He was well-known for his poetry in the early 20th century, in which most of his work reflected the oppression experienced by blacks in the south. Such as poems “crossed” and “song from a dark girl”, in which the two poems are similar in tone, language, and symbolism. The tone in both poems are of distress and confusion which derived from the discrimination towards blacks in the early 1900’s. Both poems expresses a great amount of sorrow due unjust racial discrimination imposed on blacks at the time. Lines such as “they hung my black lover” and “I wonder where I’m gone die, being neither white or black” exemplifies the distressfulness in the tone of both poems. In the poem “a song for a black girl” a African American girl expresses her sorrow over her dead black lover, who was hung, which we can assume was done by whites; because of the racial discrimination and segregation between blacks and whites in the south. Similar to the distress the author of the poem “cross” is experiencing, in which the writer is “mixed” with a white father and black mother. The author is angry and confused about his racial identity because of the heavy racial basis and segregation in the south, placing him in a purgatory area, not knowing if he’ll die as a white man or black man.…

    • 1858 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Mother To Son Literary Analysis
    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Mother To Son Literary Analysis

    “Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” (Mandino) Every parent expects for his or her child to succeed. In “Mother to Son” the mother entrusts herself with the duty to impact wisdom on her child in reference to her own successes and failures. The main theme is perseverance, a mother who motivates her child to never falter in the face of life challenges.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Awertf
    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Awertf

    Langston Hughes, a well known American poet, was born and raised in mild poverty and faced many struggles during his childhood and early adulthood. Due to the circumstances surrounding his life, Hughes developed a strong emotional connection to anyone facing struggles, particularly youth growing up in poor areas of American cities, such as New York City's Harlem area. After realizing these connections, Hughes was able to successfully address the difficulties of life and the struggles of the people, through the piece "Harlem”. The use of a distinct voice, beginning with such a strong title, compels the audience to continue through the poem, where we are exposed to strong use of voice, tone, symbolism, word choice, and poetic structure.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Harlem Renaissance Outline
    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Harlem Renaissance Outline

    Langston Hughes believed that black artists should focus on the widespread and create individual “Negro” art. He famously wrote about the period that “the negro was in vogue”. Considered among the greatest poets in U.S. history, Hughes was one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry, poetry that “demonstrates jazz-like rhythm”. His works often portrayed the lives of middle class African Americans. Hughes was a proponent of creating distinctive “Negro” art and not falling for the “urge within the race toward whiteness”…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mother To Son Literary Devices
    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mother To Son Literary Devices

    As the poem begins the reader can infer that the mother in the poem was born into poverty as the lines from the poem say, “And boards torn up… and places with no carpet on the floor,” (lines 5, 6). This shows the reader that the mother has experienced hazardous situations, in which she had to overcome in order to be where she is. As the poem continues it uses an extended metaphor to compare the mother’s life to a staircase, with the repetition of, “Life ain’t been no crystal stair,” (line 2). The poem also uses local vernacular to help the reader understand the tone of the mother’s voice. As she is giving the son advice, “So boy don’t you turn back,” (line 14), it a loving but stern tone. Hughes wrote the poem in this tone of voice in order to reflect the love that the mother has for her son. She then motivates him to never give up because of his failures. Instead she motivates him to always move forward just as she…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mother To Son
    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mother To Son

    The author utilizes symbolism to prove that life has those pathways that aren't as trouble-free as you might think. For instance, when the mother states that, “life for me ain’t been no crystal stair” (2), she is stating that no matter what he plans to do there is no clear pathway to go…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Langston Hughes Definition Of The American Dream
    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Langston Hughes Definition Of The American Dream

    In Langston Hughes poem “I, Too, Sing America” he taps into the the American dream from a slave’s point of view. His poem is about an equal America and an America where whites weren’t seen superior to African Americans. He is assertive that is he also an American and that it is just as much his country. He envisions and believes in a more hopeful future and says…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Figurative Language In Mother To Son
    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Figurative Language In Mother To Son

    In “Mother to Son,” Langston Hughes uses figurative languages like metaphors and tone to enhance the theme that you must keep going even through hard times. Hughes uses a metaphor to help show this theme by comparing two main ideas in the poem. A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things in which one thing becomes another without using like or as. Hughes uses a metaphor when he compares the mother's life in the poem to a crystal stair. The mother in this quote tells her son “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” (17-20). This metaphor explains how the mother’s life is very hard and no where near perfect. This metaphor connects to the theme of the poem, because…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics