Reading Between The Line, That is Between The Other Line

The more poems I read, the more I start to think about smaller details. One of the poems I interpreted this week was Mother to Son by Langston Hughes. The reason I chose to read this poem this week, was because it is one I have read many times in school, and have discussed that it seemed like I knew it well enough. While analyzing it, I noticed certain lines that showed how it was more than just a mother telling her son about how hard life has been for her, which usually seems to be the general idea. It went deeper than that, which is what I loved about it.

The line "And sometimes goin' in the dark, where there ain't been no light" is one that grabbed my attention. While reading the poem, it had always looked like a hard life was just given to her, and she just went towards the light the whole time, meaning going to positive places. In this line, she is going to the badness, to the dark. While I read this, I noticed a message she was trying to say. She was showing that sometimes to get where you need to be in life, you have to stop and acknowledge everything, including dark places that you might not want to go to. And whatever that 'dark place' is for someone, they have to deal with it, in order to move forward.

One line that I hadn't noticed till this week, was the "Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard." It had never occurred to me, that the author didn't need to climb at all, that they had the choice to just stay in one place. This line show, though, that they do have that option, but here the mother is telling the boy that he shouldn't do that because it is harder than climbing. The way I interpreted that line, was that sometimes its hard to live with the decisions you have made, but that you can always do something about it. You can, and should always aim higher to end up on top.

This poem is one that I find super inspirational. I think that although the idea has become somewhat cliche and cheesy, the poem speaks it in such a honest and true way that it makes it much more easy to relate.

Mother to Son

By Langston Hughes

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.