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

Explanation
Crystal stair Represents clarity and perfection A life that the mother did not have Metaphor??? Negative or positive???

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

Explanation
Tacks Illustrate the sharpness and discomfort of lifes obstacle. Splinters Represent the inflammatory pain and difficulties in removing and overcoming pain in life.

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.

So, boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps. 'Cause you finds it's kinder hard. 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.

This entire poem is based on this one Metaphor!

ANALYSIS
The metaphor in this poem relates life to a staircase. "Well, son, I'll tell

you:/ life ain't been no crystal stair."(Lines 1-2). The mother, who is
talking to her son, is saying life is not just something you can walk through with ease. It is a long and hard journey.

ANALYSIS
"It's had tacks in it,/ And splinters,/ And boards torn up,/ And places with no carpet on the floor-"(Lines 3-6).
Hughes puts an emphasis on how difficult life has been for the mother. The tacks, the splinters, the torn up boards, all are used to relate the hardships of the mother's life to the hardships of climbing up battered stairs.

ANALYSIS
The mother doesn't want her son to avoid this staircase, this life. She wants him to forge onward and upward. "So boy, don't you

turn back./ Don't you set down on the steps/ `Cause you finds it's kinder hard./ Don't you fall now-"(Lines 14-17).

ANALYSIS
To convey his voice, Hughes' uses dramatic monologue, talking through the mother as the son listens. He incorporates words like: ain't, I'se, and climbin' which is common language in the black culture. His diction gives the impression the woman is not well educated, but is street smart and wise.

ANALYSIS
The rhythm of the poem has no rhyme but a beat; it flows in a weary but determined delivery and it builds like a stairway, one step at a time.

ANALYSIS
There's a message for all of us in this mother's wise words. In her narrative, she reveals how tough life has been for her but it hasn't dimmed her spirits, "For I'se still

goin', honey,/ I'se still climbin'"(Lines 18-19). Hughes shows life as an ascent
up a staircase: it's a hard climb, but one that must be attempted and achieved.

SUMMARY
Every mother wants to see her child succeed in life Encourage her offspring to follow in her footsteps, take risks, and not be afraid. Hughes demonstrates the love and concern a mother has for her son by the wisdom she imparts on him through the example of her own life, a climb up a staircase The advice given in the poem is graphic and stirring: life is hard, full of stumbling blocks, but one must keep climbing, one cannot turn back or sit down, because one will catch a break, a turn, a landing, and keep going.

LANGSTON HUGHES

JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES (1902 1967)

Born in Joplin, Missouri American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist Best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance (1920s) wrote with rhythmic meter of blues & jazz One of the few black writers of any consequence who championed racial consciousness as a source of inspiration to the black artists

 His African-American race consciousness & cultural nationalism influence many black writers inspire the Negritude movement in France Wanted young black writers to be objective about their race and not to scorn or flee it One of these young black writers observed of Hughes, "Langston set a tone, a standard of brotherhood and friendship and cooperation, for all of us to follow. You never got from him, 'I am the Negro writer,' but only 'I am a Negro writer.' He never stopped thinking about the rest of us."