32 pages • 1 hour read
Langston HughesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
1. What can you infer about the poem’s speaker from her message and word choice? What can you glean about her relationship with her son? Why do you think Hughes has chosen to feature a mother speaking rather than, for example, a father?
2. Hughes is famous for developing a poetic voice that mimics the repetition, improvisation, and syncopated rhythms of jazz. “Mother to Son” is not one of Hughes’s canonical “jazz poems,” but it contains musical elements. In what ways does this poem strike you as particularly musical? What literary devices contribute to that effect?
3. Why might Hughes have chosen to use metaphor to discuss the experiences of Black Americans in the early 20th century? How would the poem or its effects differ if he had chosen a more literal approach? Do you think it’s possible to appreciate “Mother to Son” without prior knowledge of the history behind it? Why or why not?
4. Does the poem’s speaker seem to be climbing towards any particular destination? If so, what words or images give you that impression? If not, what role does the idea of movement itself play in “Mother to Son”?
By Langston Hughes
Children’s Rhymes
Children’s Rhymes
Langston Hughes
Cora Unashamed
Cora Unashamed
Langston Hughes
Dreams
Dreams
Langston Hughes
Harlem
Harlem
Langston Hughes
I look at the world
I look at the world
Langston Hughes
I, Too
I, Too
Langston Hughes
Let America Be America Again
Let America Be America Again
Langston Hughes
Me and the Mule
Me and the Mule
Langston Hughes
Mulatto
Mulatto
Langston Hughes
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life
Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
Not Without Laughter
Not Without Laughter
Langston Hughes
Slave on the Block
Slave on the Block
Langston Hughes
Thank You, M'am
Thank You, M'am
Langston Hughes
The Big Sea
The Big Sea
Langston Hughes
Theme for English B
Theme for English B
Langston Hughes
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Langston Hughes
The Ways of White Folks
The Ways of White Folks
Langston Hughes
The Weary Blues
The Weary Blues
Langston Hughes
Tired
Tired
Langston Hughes