Mother to Son

by Langston Hughes

Genres: Poetry, Read For School

Unknown Binding

About the author

Through poetry, prose, and drama, American writer James Langston Hughes made important contributions to the Harlem renaissance; his best-known works include Weary Blues (1926) and The Ways of White Folks (1934).

People best know this social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist James Mercer Langston Hughes, one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry, for his famous written work about the period, when "Harlem was in vogue."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langsto...

Reviews

[Leslie Truax]

"Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes is a short address from a nameless mother to her son. She tells her son about the challenges in her life, and challenges him to keep going, even when the going gets hard. The poem is a shorter poem written with ethnic dialect, and paints a picture of life as a beat up staircase, representing the hardship that life can bring.

I loved this poem when I found it, and I would love to use it in a lesson on conflict. I feel like it's simple enough that my students will understand it without trying too hard (unlike "The Lady of Shalott."), and we can glean its meaning as a class. I love how it describes life with conflict, but it's kept in a general sense. With the context of the poem I can probably help my class infer that it's referring to Man vs. Society, especially since Langston Hughes is a black poet from the Harlem Rennaissance, but I think that the poem's true power lies in the fact that my students can view the beat up stair of life to represent a number of different conflicts. With this in mind, I can pair it with other works, no matter what conflict we are addressing. I also love that this poem addresses one of my essential questions, being about how struggle and conflict can affect behavior. This poem encourages the reader to keep moving, and keep trying, even when things get hard. In that respect, I think it could go well with the picture book "What Do You Do With A Problem?" because of how the poem provides a solution for dealing with problems, whatever they might be. The strategy that I would want to use with this poem would be "Think Silently" from the Beers text, Chapter 7. Even though the strategy is only briefly mentioned on page 127, I love the image that accompanies it on the next page. I would have a copy of the poem on posterboard, and hang it up in the classroom somewhere. I would then allow students to go up to the posterboard and write down what they think the poem is talking about, or what they understand about the poem. I would have them do this after giving each a personal copy of the poem, and letting them have some minutes during/after a read-aloud to write down their initial thoughts. I would want my students to have some "safe thinking time" on their own before sharing their written answers with the class. I think that this exercise could be a great way for students to get out their ideas in a relatively stress-free environment, and will provide a fabulous resource fo class discussions.

[Lauren Neely]

I am using "Mother to Son" in my lesson plan in correlation with "Why I Hate Raisins." Both texts feature mother and child figures; however, Hughes's poem is from the point of view of the mother while Diaz's poem is from that of the child. These poems go hand in hand with each other because they allow students to see a similar situation from differing perspectives.

My write up for this poem would be the same one as for "I Hate Raisins" in which the students write a letter to a parent/guardian explaining a time when they didn't see eye to eye and why they felt this way, and then switching the perspective to that of the adult, where the adult is essentially writing to their child self. The point of this activity is to show the importance of looking at a situation from different points of view.

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC Review

"Life for me ain't been no crystal stair." This line was the sentence in the book that got me. A beautiful line in Mother to Son and one reason why its a 5 star read. Thanks Amanda Callas for sending an electronic copy for me to read. This story is so raw and real based on the plot and the beautiful images. A woman's plea for her son to never give up on life, never settle for less than he deserves and always keep persevering. I think it is a quest for all mother's to tell their child this before they are old enough to be involved in the big scary world. The staircase or path or journey may seem hard and one with missing steps or wooden splinters but it sure is one to never give up on and experience the rewards when you reach your destination. The story feels so personal, the water colours so beautiful and the framing of these graphics so special in a faint circular depiction in the middle. Representing the unity and intimacy of mother and son, the fragility of the journey and the heart and the privacy of such matters too. I also believe the story is a nod to minority groups in particular the homeless, low SES and those of non white skin cultures. Well done on a beautiful book.

[Chelsea (thepageprincess) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Hughes' poetry!

[Kaylina Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite poems since like sixth grade.

[Bonnie Ashcraft]

"Mother to Son" is a short poem with the speaker being a mother. In the poem, the speaker tells her son what life is all about using a long analogy about stairs. She tells her son about all of the hardships that life will throw at you in the hopes of creating a more realistic picture of life itself.

For my concept (choice) I think that students can take a lot away from this. While on the surface, the poem compares life to some really old stairs that are full of nails and splinters, there's a deeper meaning. The speaker starts the poem off by saying life isn't a crystal staircase, meaning it's not perfect. Throughout the speakers analogy, the readers can see that in some way or another, you have to find your own solutions in order to get past the splinters and loose nails. Making decisions has a lot to do with how we cope.

For MS students, their life is going through drastic changes. They are making their own choices and dealing with the consequences. This is very new territory for them and I feel that since this poem paints a picture of a reality, many of them will relate to what the poem is saying.

The trait that sticks out the most when I read this poem is ideas and a writing activity I would pair with it is "Favorite Mistakes". Rather than having students pick out mistakes from this reading, I think it would be more useful for them to write about their own mistakes. They could write a short story of a time where they made a mistake based on a choice they made after using a graphic organizer to get all of their ideas down. Then we could head into a writing workshop where the students trade their stories with one another and read about each other's experiences.

[Deborah Obida · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poem is about a mother's advice to her son, telling him that life is not a crystal stair, that even with life bumps he should not give up but continue climbing.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The challenge of life!
Available at poetrysoup.com

[Pearl Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

We should never give up no matter how difficult life is.

[krissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

the mother telling her son that life does get better but you have to go through things first. those barriers are meant to be there but you can get through them

read for eng 1102

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pair with Wife of his youth and other Hughes poems

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
"Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair."
Keep climbing, keep moving forward, never give up!

[Haley ♎︎]

Read for children’s literature class

[Amber LA Dillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes without saying this was a perfect book to read to my son! Beautiful illustrations and a very beautiful story! Definitely recommend 👌 10/10

[Cyndi Goodgame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you know every song of Hughes can be sung to the blues?

[Yusra Faridi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poem:
The narrator of this poem is a mother who is sharing some words of wisdom with her son. She talks about how the journey of life has not been a simple one for her. She compares her life to an old staircase; torn up, bare, with splinters all over it. This comparison continues throughout the poem. From the narrator's point of view, the image of a perfect life would compare to that of a crystal stair--clear, smooth, and easy to climb. The mother shares with her son the fact that even though there have been dark times in her life, she has continued on her path and climbed to the top. The message of the whole poem is that the mother wants to advice her son to never give up, never turn back, and keep on moving up. I believe the craft Langston Hughes uses best in this poem is the metaphor of life and stairs. I think the author does a great job at this because the readers can easily picture a smooth set of stairs as well as an old, torn up stair case. From that image it is very easy to compare the rough life of someone climbing up an old staircase, as well as the smooth journey of going up crystal stairs. The only thing I would advice the author if I were his teacher would be to use language that is a little bit more descriptive so that it can help readers even more with the use of imagery.

[Rasleen Kaur · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Mother to Son" is a heartfelt and deeply relatable poem that resonated with me on a personal level. It beautifully portrays the unbreakable bond between a mother and her child. As a daughter myself, I felt the profound love and support that a mother provides, guiding her child through life's challenges. The poem's message of resilience and perseverance in the face of adversity struck a chord within me, reminding me of the strength and wisdom that can be found in a mother's words. Langston Hughes captures the essence of this special relationship, making it a timeless piece that celebrates the unwavering love of a mother.

[Sneh Pradhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lessons of grit through the comfort of a mother's words ....

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the meaning behind this poem. Had to read this for my English Literature class.

[Hristinaaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poem in english

[Cristina Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Poem.

[Benjamin Goldman]

This poem can be widely used in middle school classrooms because of its ability to lead into various lessons on poetry. "Mother to Son" could be read for its abundant use of imagery, or its unique syntactic choices clearly influenced by a specific dialect. The concept of perspective could be brought out in this poem's use of a conversation between two characters. For instance, students could attempt to analyze the poem's features by stepping into the shoes of either the mother or the son. In terms of the poem's connection to reading and writing instruction for middle school students, I would employ a during-reading strategy Beers mentioned called Logographic Cues. This strategy allows students to come up with their own symbols to label specific features of a text. In this example, the students could make icons that are assigned to different elements of figurative language such as simile or metaphor. In addition, the cues can be assigned to the different senses a reader might feel while reading the poem.