Mother to Son: Key Poetic Devices

Extended Metaphor

An extended metaphor functions in the same way as an ordinary metaphor, but it differs in the amount of space devoted to its development. Whereas an ordinary metaphor may be mentioned in passing, an extended metaphor unfolds over the course of many lines. In “Mother to Son,” the speaker uses the extended metaphor of a staircase to describe the difficulties she’s faced in life. As a metaphor, the staircase implies that life entails some kind of upward movement toward improved status and circumstances. Climbing the staircase of life involves persistent exertion, and every step requires effort. Such effort is hard enough to maintain when the staircase you’re climbing is clean and well maintained. For the speaker, however, the metaphorical staircase of life is full of hazards (lines 3–7):

It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.

These hazards stand in for the various obstacles created by racial and class inequality, which have made the speaker’s climb up the staircase of life particularly treacherous. Nevertheless, she has persisted. It remains ambiguous, though, where the staircase of life ultimately leads. In the poem, it seems as though the staircase never ends. As such, the metaphor emphasizes the uphill journey rather than a particular outcome, like social status or wealth.

Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton (PAH-lee-SIN-duh-TAWN) is a technical term that refers to instances where several coordinating conjunctions appear within a single sentence. It is thus a rhetorical technique that allows a writer—or a speaker—to bring together a series of different thoughts, ideas, or objects. Hence the forbidding name, which derives from the Greek words “many” (poly) and “bound together” (syndeton). Hughes uses polysyndeton to powerful effect in the two long sentences where the speaker details the many difficulties she’s faced in her life. In both cases, the speaker repeats the conjunction “And” three times. However, the two cases have different rhetorical effects. Consider the first example of polysyndeton, which appears in lines 3–7:

It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.

Here, the speaker emphasizes the poor conditions of the staircase she’s climbed. The repeated use of “And” powerfully underscores the accumulation of obstacles she’s faced, which helps her son—and the reader—understand the circumstances of her struggle. In the sentence that follows, the speaker makes use of the same technique, but to different ends (lines 8–13):

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.

Here, the repeated use of “And” doesn’t emphasize the poor conditions. Instead, the “Ands” underscore the speaker’s endurance, detailing the different ways she persisted through each part of her climb.

Refrain

The term refrain refers to any word, phrase, line, or group of lines that gets repeated over the course of a poem. In “Mother to Son,” a refrain occurs between lines 2 and 20, which are nearly identical. The poem begins with the speaker presenting the overarching theme of her monologue:

Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Before she gets into the detailed portion of her speech, she wants him to know from the get-go that she’s going to talk about the challenges she’s faced in life. Following this opener, the speaker goes on to describe both the obstacles that have stood before her and the endurance she’s cultivated despite those obstacles. She then closes her address to him with lines 17–20:

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.

Note how the speaker ends the poem with a refrain of the statement she used at its beginning. This refrain allows to speaker to recapitulate the overall thesis of her monologue. But coming as it does at the end of the poem, the same line now means something slightly different. At the beginning, the speaker’s statement about life not being a crystal stair seemed to emphasize difficulty. At the end, however, the emphasis has shifted to the value of persistence.

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