I first read Langston Hughes in 7th grade. That was sort of a watershed year for me, aside from going through an emo phase, I also discovered that I was into poetry. The two were unrelated. Part of that second phase was being exposed to Langston Hughes. In my English class we read this poem, along with A Dream Deferred, and I was hooked. Langston Hughes is in my opinion, one of the best poets to ever come out of America. The way he uses language – ugh- I just really love it.
Without further ado, here’s the text:
Mother to Son
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.
AM I RIGHT?!?!?!
Okay, so some background: Hughes is one of the preeminent poets to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, and his poetry is considered a voice of the movement. He related to the struggles of the black community, and turned those struggles into art that could be appreciated by those who lived those struggles, and those who weren’t aware of them, or perhaps had never been exposed to them. While all of his poems do share an African-American voice, they are extraordinarily human.
This poem is relatable in a way that not all poetry is, and it positions the reader in relation to the text in such a way that the reader is being addressed by the mother, as her son. In this way it creates the reader to be the son, an African-American boy. Through this lens, the reader is able to relate to the mother in a unique way.
The voice that Hughes uses for the mother is also interesting. He chooses to spell out her dialect, which more clearly identifies her in her societal position. She is identified as a black woman by her voice, and that is a part of her which is thus inseparable from her identity. There is no way that a white reader can co-opt her into their idea. It roots the poem in it’s societal space.
The shift in line 8 is especially poignant to me. Yes, she’s had a hard life, just as black people in America have all had to live in the shadow of systematic oppression, and in a country that has valued them as less than whites. But the mother keeps climbing up the staircase of her life. She isn’t going to stop climbing just because it’s not been easy. In this way, Hughes encourages the rest of the African-American community to keep going, to keep pushing forward, and to never give up, no matter how many tacks, splinters, and torn up boards there are.
I adore this poem. It’s message is so powerful and very simple to follow. The poem is so lyrical as well. It reads like music and has the most beautiful flow to it. I really appreciated the background of Langston Hughes you provided, as it added even more significance to the poem.
It all feels so natural, the words and phrases! I can easily put a figure in front of the poetry and re-construct the conversation in a physical, real room, where the conversation was not composed as poetry, but recorded with all objectiveness such as in the report of an honest observer of history, of what the minority people have been through–or rather, have fought through, since history had not been advancing in itself for the minority groups in an extended period of time.
Reading your blog was my first time reading this poem and I love both pieces of writing. I especially love when you say the poem is “extraordinarily human”. As I was reading it I could hear the voice of the mother and felt as if I was her son, just as you described. I like that you remarked on the spelling of the poem, in particular that the dialect is spelt out, because it keeps the poem in the African-American dialect as it was written.