“Mother” by Nagase Kiyoko
Choose ONE of the following activities to demonstrate your
understanding of this poem.
1. Similes and metaphors are tools that writers use to make their
ideas more concrete for their audience. Locate the similes and
metaphors the poet uses to describe her mother. What does
each one suggest about the mother’s character? Write a
character sketch of the mother. Provide evidence from the text
to support your conclusions about her. Use a proper paragraph
format with a topic sentence, supporting details, and transitions.
(Paragraph structure – Student Writer’s Guide, p72 – p74)
2. Use old magazine pictures or images collected from the internet
to make a collage that communicates the psychological aspects
of the mother-daughter relationship explored in the poem.
Include words and phrases from print media in your collage.
Try to capture the mood of the poem through your choice of
images and how you arrange them. Give your collage an
appropriate title and display it in the classroom. Attach a brief
explanation of how the collage relates to the ideas in “Mother”.
3. #2, p 294 Viewpoints 11
(Writing a poem – Student Writer’s Guide, p34 – p37)