Mother to Son

Langston Hughes
 James Mercer Langston Hughes
(February 1, 1902 May 22, 1967)

African American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and

columnist
One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary
art form called jazz poetry.

Leader of Harlem Renaissance.

Montage Of a Dream Deferred, The

Negro Speaks of Rivers, Let America
Be America Again etc are some of his
known works
 Its had tacks in it,

* Tack (n): a small nail with a sharp point and a flat head
 And splinters,

** Splinter(n): a small thin sharp piece of wood, metal, glass,

that has broken off a large piece
And boards torn up ,
And places with no carpet on the
floor-
Bare.
And reachin landins,
And turnin corners,
So, boy, dont you turn back.
Dont you set down on the steps.
For Ise still goin, honey,
Ise still climbin
Guess the referring term?
crystal stair
tacks
splinters
boards
no carpet
bare
Lets revisit
Describe
the type of life the speaker lived.
How do you know this?

What advice is the mother giving to the son?

What is life compared to?

Ise been a-climbin on, what is the

mother referring to?

The significance of the line Dont you

set down on the steps?
Identify the critic in you

Clues:
Title
What is going on in the poem?
Terms that contribute to the meaning
or effect of the poem.
Relevance of the structure and dialect.