Comparing Mother To Son And Speech To The Young

Each poet has different writing styles that makes their poems unique, which can be seen in analyzing different poems. In the poems, “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, and “Speech to the Young” by Gwendolyn Brooks, both poets give advice to the reader in their writing. Both poems have very distinctive forms that helps to convey the meaning of the poem more, yet both poems have very similar sound techniques. “Mother to Son” is all one metaphor and uses more imagery, whilst “Speech to the Young” does not contain any imagery. Both poems have a similarity basis to their themes of not giving up, “Mother to Son” goes into more depth on this theme. These two poems are both similar and different in various ways.

“Mother to Son” and “Speech

The only similarity between the two poems is that both poems do not use any similes. “Mother to Son” contains many examples of imagery. In “Mother to Son”, Hughes writes, “It’s had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards torn up, / And places with no carpet on the floor- / Bare” (3-7). Hughes descriptions of how deteriorated the “stairs” are is only one example of imagery in the poem. In contrast, “Speech to the Young” does not contain any imagery. “Mother to Son” is all one metaphor, while “Speech to the Young” only contains metaphors. In “Speech to the Young”, some of the metaphors used are “Live not for the battles won. / Live not for the-end-of-the-song” (10-11). “Speech to the Young” includes many different metaphors, while “Mother to Son” is all one, extended metaphor. “Speech to the Young” includes various example of personification, whilst “Mother to Son” does not. In “Speech to the Young”, the personification that Brooks writes is, “say to the down-keepers / the sun-slappers, / the self-soilers, / the harmony hushers” (2-5). The figurative language used in each poem impacts the meaning of it. In “Mother to Son”, having it all be one metaphor of that “Life for me ain’t no crystal stair” (Hughes, 2, 20), makes it seem more personal, more of someone sharing how they view life, with the imagery adding onto the metaphor while giving the reader a clear image of how they view the “stair” ( life ). The personifications in “Speech to the Young” impacts the meaning of the poem by making the reader easily visualize those who may try to “bring you down in life”. The various uses of figurative language and imagery in each poem impacts their