Mother to Son

Mother to Son by Langston Hughes, is an inspirational poem about a mother talking to her son about the ups and downs of life. The author uses the metaphor of life is a "crystal stair" to express  his thoughts about a hard life. He tells us that his life "ain't no crystal stair" and is more like wooden stairs with tacks and cracks that represent the hardships in his life. He also writes it with a southern twang so we can capture the right image of the character. Obviously this character was not all prim and proper, and if Langston would have written it like that, we wouldn't have been able to see him as the poor boy who has not had many opportunities in life. This poem made me feel happier about my life and it also gave me a sense of security.