Langston Hughes
Standard English versus
Dialectic Usage
“Mother to Son”: What does Hughes
Use in his poem?
• “Extended Metaphor
• A metaphor is a literary device that compares one element to something
else. Metaphors connect things that readers already know to a new
element or way of seeing the world. An extended metaphor takes a
comparison and carries it throughout an entire passage, like Hughes does
with the staircase in the poem "Mother to Son." Rather than mentioning
the staircase once, the whole poem is based around the staircase and how
it compares to life. Hughes describes what the staircase, or life, is by first
explaining what it isn't.”
• “What the Staircase Is Not
• Hughes creates the metaphor in the beginning of the poem, when he
writes, "Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair." The strong imagery, the
picture created in the reader's head of a crystal stair, is the opposite of
what the speaker has experienced. Having a house with a staircase is
good, but a crystal staircase shows prestige and money. By saying his life is
not a crystal stair, Hughes is honest about his socioeconomic class and that
of other black men.”
Negro Speaks the River
• The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is perhaps Hughes’s most
anthologized poem. Written in the first-person voice, the
poem begins, “I’ve known rivers.” The “I” is a collective
voice of black people from ancient times (3000 b.c.e.) to
the present. The narrator’s voice speaks of bathing in the
Euphrates, building a hut near the Congo, raising pyramids
by the Nile, and watching the sun set on the Mississippi.
The refrain, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers,” links
the movement and endurance and power of the great
rivers to black history.
• The repeated “I,” beginning seven of the ten lines, focuses
the reader on the narrator, the black person who speaks of
rivers, and on the effects of the tie between his history and
the rivers.
1
• This poem also speaks of a mystic union of
blacks throughout the world, for it traces their
history back to the creation of the world,
giving them credit for spanning time and for
founding the greatest civilizations that
humanity has ever known.
2
• The images of beauty and death, and of hope and
despair, all fused in his adolescent sensibility,
causing him to create one of his most beautiful
poems. The use of words such as “soul” and
“rivers” allows Hughes to touch the deepest
feelings and spiritual longings of his own soul and
the souls of his people. With the use of the words
“deep,” “flow,” “dusky,” and “ancient,” Hughes
describes the actual rivers that were involved in
black history, all the while emphasizing the long
and glorious history of his race.
3
• The poem, with its allusions to the setting sun,
human blood, and deep, dusky rivers, suffuses
the images of death as it speaks of the river.
•
"Themes and Meanings" Critical Guide to Poetry for StudentsEd. Philip K. Jason. eNotes.com, Inc.
2002 eNotes.com 22 Jul, 2015 <http://www.enotes.com/topics/negro-speaksrivers/themes#themes-themes-and-meanings>
“Mother to Son”
• “What the Staircase Is
• After clarifying that life was not glamorous, Hughes
describes what his life was like by saying "It’s had tacks in
it,/ And splinters,/ And boards torn up." The working-man
description of the staircase he has faced is mirrored by the
staircase itself and the act of climbing. Also, later in the
poem he describes it as "bare." This means that life has had
hardships and difficult spots along the way. Critic Aidan
Wasley says, "The speaker equates the history of AfricanAmericans with an endless flight of broken-down stairs,
such as might be found in the the cramped and crumbling
tenements in which many poor blacks found themselves
forced to live in the ghetto neighborhoods of the northern
cities."
1
• “Motion
• Hughes uses strong verbs throughout the poem to simulate
the action of climbing the stairs. This means that he sees
life as an uphill climb. "Climbin'," "reachin'," "turnin'" and
"goin'" are all strong action verbs. The mother exhorts her
son to keep moving forward and not give up. She says,
"Don’t you fall now—/ For I’se still goin’, honey,/ I’se still
climbin’." Despite the difficulties of life, as pictured in the
splintered, bare staircase, the mother still wants her son to
keep moving, striving and succeeding.”
• Kathryne Bradesca has been a writing teacher for more
than 15 years. She received a master's degree in teaching
from Kent State University. See at synonmym.com
2
• An allusion is a figure of speech that refers to
a well-known story, event, person, or object in
order to make a comparison in the readers'
minds. For instance, imagine a writer needs to
explain her main character's struggle against
an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. She
wants to get across the idea that her character
is righteous and stands a chance of winning
the battle, even though that chance appears
to be a remote one.
3
• Examples of Allusions
• Sometimes allusion is easy to spot. A reference like
'That guy is a regular Adonis!' draws upon a mythical
figure of beauty to make a comparison in an obvious
way. But not all allusions are as easy to recognize. For
instance, let's look at this line: 'My father carries the
weight of the world.' This is an allusion to Atlas, a
figure who held up the Earth in Greek mythology.
Rather than refer to Atlas by name, this allusion calls
up an image of Atlas by mentioning his most commonly
recognized trait - the fact that he holds up the planet,
and it carries connotations of enduring strength and
nobility.