Poetry Analysis of "The Mother"

"The Mother"

In recent, popular culture, abortion has become a very sensitive subject. It has become a controversy to try and settle whether it is morally wrong. In some religions, such as Catholicism, abortion is looked down upon and is considered a mortal sin. Others would just simply agree that they don't think it should be done. On the other hand, some see abortion as something that is strictly the mother's choice and if she should want it, it should be allowed. Some even believe that there should be certain requirements mothers have to meet before having an abortion, such as they had to have been raped or the baby has to be the product of incest. "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks is a significant poem because it is an allusion to the current topic of abortion. While being faced with such different views on abortion, the narrator chose to express a mother's point of view and her mourning for her unborn children. More importantly, this is a more nontraditional poem, varying in form, theme, tone, and style. One of the reasons why this poem is so modern is because of its difference in rhyme scheme from more traditional poems. More traditional poetry does not place a lot of emphasis on rhyming and often the diction is much more complex. "The Mother" consists of three large stanzas containing consecutively rhyming lines and the diction is relatively low. As far as how the poem appears on the page, there is nothing that is quite significant about it. It is written in stanzas vertically down the page just as any other literary work. Each stanza was a different size, indicating that this poem has no standard meter that regulates the number of lines in each stanza. One would assume that the theme of this poem is abortion, since it is mentioned in the first line of the poem. The narrator describes the "damp small pulps with a little or with no hair," (Brooks, 1382.) which is what aborted fetuses tend to look like. The narrator then mentions her unborn children, the feelings she would never feel towards them, and the things they would never experience. All of these examples allude back to the consequences of abortion. Clearly, there is a very dark tone to this poem. The narrator is upset, regretful, and mourning for her unborn children. Her insight and her views onset the mood for this poem, generally making it a depressing story. The overall style is a simple, rhyming poem with middle diction. Although the narrator chose a very controversial topic as a theme to her poem, she did not give a stance on abortion. She had the abortions, yet admitted to regretting them. This is not enough evidence to prove whether the narrator was for or against it. This poem is very unique, not only because of the risky subject that the author has chosen, but because of its' unique style of writing.